That one Night in April
by Squibbert
Summary: Seldom is the case that one is able to pinpoint the exact moment when something in the dynamics of a relationship changes causing everything else to change as well. If someone was to ask him today, he probably could not say for sure, but he would guess that it all started that night in April… A Dramione fic in which things are sorted by talking and not by teenage drama
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:I don't make any money of this. Just for fun.

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Chapter 1 – Prologue

 _Seldom is the case that one is able to pinpoint the exact moment when something in the dynamics of a relationship changes causing everything else to change as well. If someone was to ask him today, he probably could not say for sure, but he would guess that it all started that night in April…_

 _Nearly one year had passed since the end of the Second Wizarding War and slowly things in the Wizarding World were getting back to normal. People had now started to let go of the fear that had been so present during Voldemort's uprising and accepted that he was gone for good this time and the Ministry of Magic was once again fully operating. Hogwarts had been re-built during one year and was now once again back to teaching young wizards and witches witchcraft and wizardry under the lead of Headmistress McGonagall. Due to the circumstances of the year leading up to the end of the Second Wizarding War both sixth and seventh year student were re-taking their year. Headmistress McGonagall would not stand for letting Hogwarts students graduate or even counting the year with Voldemort's curriculum. For the younger students; they advanced as usual since Headmistress McGonagall figured they would have time to make up for it during their later years._

 _During the year Hogwarts had been re-build Draco Malfoy had spent his time doing some serious soul-searching and he tried his utter most to become a better person. He had been quite successful in the matter actually; and this was one of the reasons he was now taking Muggle Studies this year. His newfound enlightenment and more sympathetic personality was also what had lead him to become Head Boy and was now cohabiting with the Head Girl, Hermione Granger. It had started out as a tense situation where they both just tried to avoid any awkwardness by seeing each other as little as possible but slowly they had become good friends. Once all tension had vanished they found that they actually quite enjoyed each other's company and were now voluntarily, occasionally, spending time together outside of their Heads' duties. Draco had found that Hermione, besides still being a bit of a know-it-all, was actually a reasonable and sensible person with a heart of gold. She had always been very understanding and forgiving towards him ever since they started cohabiting._

One afternoon in the middle of April Draco Malfoy was sitting on the floor in the Head's common room surrounded by five large boxes trying to figure out paintings on a piece of paper in his hand. He was so deeply concentrated he did not look up when the portrait swung open and the Head Girl climbed through the hole into the common room.

"Oi! Malfoy!" Hermione called out. "Look at this! They are having a sale at Quality Quidditch Supplies in Diagon Alley! You said you desperately needed a new broom after the last game, didn't you?" she continued and waved _The Daily Prophet_ at him but as she saw the boxes she lost her track. "What's with the boxes?"

"It's my final Muggle Studies project." Draco said somewhat distracted and looked up. "I am to assemble these furniture without the use of magic. It ought to give understanding for everyday living without magic."

Hermione looked around and saw to her amusement the letters "IKEA" on the boxes and she could not help to chuckle at the thought of Draco Malfoy, the proudest and most stubborn person she knew who had not lived a day in his life without magic, trying to assemble IKEA-furniture - with out magic.

"Well, this I've got to see!" she smiled and sat down in the armchair next to him.

"Brilliant." he mumbled with total lack of enthusiasm. He then continued, "We actually ought to have a supervisor that makes sure we don't use magic. As long as you're no doubt going to sit here and heckle me the next hour you might as well do some good. Will you be my supervisor?"

"You expect this to take an hour?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well yeah. How hard can it be?" he replied and raised his right eyebrow.

Hermione smiled a kind smile; "It's just that most Muggles find this extremely frustrating and time consuming to do this and they're somewhat used to doing these kind of stuff with out magic. In my opinion you might be underestimating the time required for this project. But never mind that, of course I'll be your supervisor. Hand me your wand." Draco was happy she accepted the request and handed his wand over to her and started tare open the first box. He started to assemble the first piece of furniture, which was a black chest with three drawers in the Malm-series. Hermione watched and gave helpful pointers.

As the work proceeded they joked and talked about everything and nothing. Never had Draco thought doing Muggle chores could be this pleasant. Time flew by and it was nearly 7 o'clock when a knocking on the portrait interrupted them. Hermione opened and a furious Pansy Parkinson stormed into the common room.

"Draco Malfoy!" Pansy spat. "I've been waiting for you for over an hour and now I find you've seemed to completely forgotten about me!"

"Sorry Pansy, I completely spaced!" said Draco.

"I expect you to make it up to me!" Pansy was outraged, "Come on then, let's go!"

"Pansy, I really am sorry, but I can't make it to night." Draco begun to explain and as Pansy's eyes grew darker and her lips became thinner he continued, "You see, I got this project for Muggle Studies which I have to finish and it took far longer than I first figured. I have to take a rein check."

At first it looked like Pansy thought she hadn't heard Draco right, but when she understood she _had_ heard him correctly she spoke in a voice that trembled with anger, "So you mean to tell me you rather stay here and do your 'home work' with _her…_ " Pansy nodded at Hermione, "… with that _mudblood_ , rather that to be with me?!"

Draco got up walked over to Pansy, took a firm grip around her arm and escorted Pansy past Hermione and up the stairs that lead to the dormitory. Pansy whimpered slightly at the pain caused by Draco's firm grip and she took a breath of relief when Draco let go of her arm as he stopped in the stair case, on what he though was out of ear shot from Hermione, and turned around to face Pansy.

"If I ever hear you call her that again I will personally make sure you regret it, mark my words," he hissed at her and his grey eyes had turned ominously dark.

Pansy looked too scared to even dare to ask what exactly he would do to make her regret it. Instead she looked at him and gathered just enough courage to say in a defiant tone, "So that's it then? You're ditching me for her?"

"Me ditching you tonight has nothing to do with either you or Granger, but my studies." Draco explained but Pansy would not let it go.

"This is not you, Draco. The fact that you blame studying as the cause of you ditching me is pathetic. And _Muggle Studies_ non the less? Come on!"

Draco felt the rage build up inside him to the point where he almost snapped. He wanted to scream out his frustration right in her pug face. But instead he looked away for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Leave." he said in a short tone.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Pansy, clearly insulted.

"You heard me. I want you to leave. We're over." said Draco as he looked at Pansy again.

For a moment Pansy just gasped at Draco. Then she came to her senses.

"Fine! You want me to go, I'm gone," she said as she turned around and stormed down the stairs and out of the common room. Draco just stood there contemplating what had just happened. He then slowly walked down the stairs into the common room again and sat down in the sofa with his head resting in his hands.

Hermione, who had heard every thing despite the fact that she knew she was not suppose to have, stood there awkwardly and watched Draco for a few moments. She was shocked over the way he had told Pansy off when she had used the M-word. Draco would never consider using it himself in this day and age, but that he reacted so strongly when someone else used it, Hermione had no idea. She walked over and sat down next to him, carefully putting a hand on his shoulder, not sure if he wanted her to touch him. When he didn't shake her hand off she softly spoke;

"Draco… I know I wasn't supposed to hear that, but I did. And I just want you to know that I admire your values, and if you want to, or need to, talk about it I'm here for you."

Draco looked up. This was the first time he'd heard her call him by his first name. He didn't expect words to come out of his mouth and before he could stop himself he blurred out everything he had been thinking about for quite some time;

"It's just so frustrating! I really AM trying so hard to be a better person but it's like she is fighting me all the way. The war didn't have an impact on her, she is still the same immature and narrow-minded person she was when we first started going out. I know I was the exact same horrible person back then, but I grew up during the war. I realised how horrible the values I was brought up to have were and at least I'm trying to make a change. Even though it's hard work I find myself being happier now, but it's like she doesn't want me to be happy."

Hermione was a little shocked over this outburst of bottled up emotions Draco now shared but quickly found herself and said,

"Well, just like me, you were forced to grow up way earlier than anyone should have to do, and during hard circumstances as well. I can tell you've worked hard to find your self in this new personality and I must say I think you've done very well. You've gone through, what I can only assume, has been a terrible inner battle with yourself as you've questioned who you really are and at the same time having to deal with other peoples opinions, such as your father's. Which I can also assume has not made it easier for you."

Draco just stared at her as she spoke, scared of how accurate she actually was. Hermione continued;

"As far as you and Pansy go I know it feels terrible when you realise you and your first love both have grown up, but sadly you've grown apart…" She trailed off,

"But for what it's worth I think you are an amazing person, Malfoy. This last year I've gotten to know you I realize you're a strong person and I'm happy to call you my friend."

As Draco heard Hermione say all these wonderful things to him he felt a huge weight lifted of his chest, as if all the years of anxiety he had build up finally starting to release. He felt a relief he could not really explain, other than the fact that Hermione, the kindest and smartest person he knew, saw something good in him.

"Thank you, Granger. That really does mean a lot to me, coming from you. I mean it." He said and smiled a weak, but perhaps his most sincere, smile. Hermione leaned forward and embraced Draco in a warm hug. Draco, a little startled at first, returned the hug and as he had his nose in Hermione's hair he took a deep breath that filled his nostrils with the sweet smell of her vanilla perfume.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Fire Whiskey and Chest Pain

The reminding time at Hogwarts after the night Draco had broken up with Pansy and poured his heart out to Hermione was the happiest time Draco had ever experienced. A huge burden had been lifted and that caused him to be, well, happy. He was in such a good mood that he even forgot to be his usual arrogant self to Potter and Weasley. The events of that night in April had brought Draco and Hermione closer than they had been before and Draco spent the rest of the term hanging out with Hermione, and by default also Potter, Weasley and Weaslett (as Draco referred to Ginny). Even though Draco certainly felt like the fifth wheel at most times by the time graduation neared in June Draco actually found he quite enjoyed their company. At least the company of Potter and Weaslett, as him and Weasley never seemed to be quite able to see eye to eye, though.

After graduation, not having a clue of what he wanted to do with his life, Draco moved to a small flat in London and got a job as a bartender at the Leaky Cauldron. He could not bear to move back to the Manor and endure his father's old fashion values and piss attitude. Draco missed his mother though; she had always been the most supportive and loving parent to him. Sure, her values were from time to time old-fashioned but she had never truly believed the quality in a person was based on their blood and what family they were born into. But never the less she always told Draco how much she loved him and how proud he made her, no matter what he did.

During the months of the summer Draco and Hermione still saw each other on quite frequently. She and Weasley, and sometimes also Potter and Weaslett, came to the Leaky Cauldron to have dinner, have a drink or just to chat from time to time. But as summer ended and they all got busy with their new jobs they didn't come around as often. That was why Draco was somewhat surprised when he got back to his flat one night in November to see an owl he recognized as Potter's sitting out side his window with a letter in her beak. Draco opened the window and let the owl in. The owl dropped the envelope on his bed and took a seat on the backrest of a chair and watched Draco encouraging. Draco understood that he was expected to read the letter now and probably give some sort of answer to the owl immediately. He opened the letter and found that it was an invitation to Potter and Weaslett's engagement party, an event that was going to take place the following Saturday at the Burrow, 8 o'clock PM. He felt a wave of joy wash over him and he quickly grabbed a quill, dipped it in some ink and scribbled down a note on a piece of parchment saying he would attend. He gave it to the owl that hooted and flew out through the open window. Draco stood by the window and watched as the owl became smaller and smaller as he was trying to sort out why he felt such excitement over this engagement event, it wasn't like Potter and him had become great friends, but merely acquaintances who acted civil towards each other. No, the joy did not stem from Potter, but perhaps from the chances of someone else attending the party. Someone Draco had grown rather fond of. Someone he found himself thinking about every day for the last seven months. Someone he longed to see again, someone he longed to hold in his arms and smell her sweet vanilla scented perfume again.

Saturday came and Draco was impatiently pacing in his flat waiting for the clock to become 8.30. Even tough the invitation had stated the party started at 8 he didn't want to risk being the first one there and figured he could be fashionably late. He poured himself a fire whiskey to calm his nerves and climbed out the window of his flat and sat down on the fire escape out side. He reached into his pocket and took out a packet of smokes. He lit one and took a deep drag. He felt a calming sensation wash over him as the nicotine spread and reached the receptors in his brain. He exhaled the smoke and took a sip of the fire whiskey. There was a pleasant burnings sensation as the cold liquid made its was down his throat and landed in his stomach. He felt warmth spread through his body. A couple of more drags and sips later Draco finally begun to feel his nerves calm down. By the time Draco had finished his fire whiskey, and several smokes, the clock had then turned 8.26.

"This will do." said Draco to himself and apperated to the Burrow.

When Draco arrived at the Burrow he could hear the festivity were already at full blast inside. He walked up to the door and hesitated for a moment. Was this the kind of party where one knocks on the door and waits for it to be answered or does one simply let one self in? He didn't have time to think long enough to come to a conclusion because at that moment the door opened and out came Potter.

"Malfoy! You made it!" Potter happily exclaimed when he saw Draco on the porch. "How are you, mate?" said Potter and shook Draco's hand.

"Alright, thanks." Draco, somewhat puzzled over the very friendly welcoming, simple answered. He then realized he probably should be a little bit more polite so he continued, "I believe congratulations are in order, Potter. Weasley is one heck of a lady; you're very lucky. Here, I brought you an engagement present." Draco handed over a book titled _Four Hundred Fantastic and Enchanting Destinations – a Travelling Wizard's Guide._

"I figured after the engagement there would be a wedding and ultimately a honey moon. Figured I'd get you and soon-to-be-Mrs Potter some inspiration. I can personally recommend Machu Picchu. Especially May to October. For the hiking at least, and the two of you never struck me as the hanging-out-on-the-beach-vacation-type." Draco rambled awkwardly.

"That's great, thank mate!" Potter beamed at Draco. "Listen, I was just on my way out to grab some more Butterbeers, why don't you go on inside and grab a drink and mingle." Potter continued.

Draco did as suggested and stepped inside as he heard Potter summon more butter beers and performing a Hover Charm on them. As Draco stepped into the lounge the first that caught his eye was Hermione. He was mesmerized of how beautiful she was. She was wearing her hair up and she had on a dark green a-line dress. She was standing across the room talking to Neville Longbottom. Her eyes wandered across the room and as she saw Draco her face lit up and Draco could have swore he saw a twinkle in her eyes. He made his way over to Hermione and Longbottom. Longbottom greeted Draco in a polite, but still sort of stiff, manner; Longbottom was still not convinced Draco was truly as turned around and enlightened as everyone claimed him to be, and then he left to find his date, Luna Lovegood.

"Malfoy, it's wonderful to see you! It's been far too long!" Hermione said as she embraced Draco in a long hug. Draco inhaled the sent of her vanilla perfume and felt similar warmth he'd been feeling in his stomach when he drank the fire whiskey earlier, only this time the warmth was in his chest.

"It's good to see you too, Granger. It's well over due." He replied into her hair still hugging her. They broke away from the hug at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind Draco.

"Malfoy, you made it." said Weasley, not even trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"I wouldn't miss something like this, now would I?" said Draco to Weasley but his eyes were till looking into Hermione's'.

"I brought us some more Butterbeers, here you go, love." said Weasley to Hermione and handed her a butter beer as he gave her a kiss. Draco felt a sting in his chest and his eyes turned dark. Before letting anyone see his reaction he excused himself and went to explore the possible existence of something to drink, something stronger that butter beer at least.

As he walked over to table where all the alcohol-containing beverages were placed he stared to turn bottles looking for anything to numb his feeling of discomfort.

"Looking for something in particular, mate?" George Weasley had walked up behind Draco, undoubtedly in search for something stronger than Butterbeer himself.

"Well, I would fancy something with a bit more sting in than Butterbeers, if you know what I mean." Draco admitted. Draco and George had become quite good friends as they worked in such close proximity they often bumped into one and other. And more than a few times George had come into the Leaky Cauldron after work to eat or have a drink. Some times he even stayed until they closed and him and Draco would have a drink together after the last guests had gone home. Draco knew that George, just like himself, had trouble sleeping. Every night in his dreams Draco was back either at the Manor with Voldemort or at the Battle of Hogwarts. He'd told George this and George told Draco he too was back at the Battle of Hogwarts, only George saw his twin brother, Fred, die every night in his dreams. Their insomnia had brought them close together and they both felt some comfort in knowing they weren't alone.

"Ah!" said George, just knowing what kind of beverage Draco was talking about. "Can I interest you in some fire whiskey, my good Sir?" said George as he pulled a bottle out of his robes with one hand and summoned two glasses with the other. Draco grinned and took one glass. He'd always liked George.

Although everyone was being nice to Draco and he was objectively having a good time he could not shake the feeling of discomfort he'd felt as Weasley started to snug Hermione. Things did not improve as people started dancing and Draco saw how Weasley took Hermione's hand led her out to the dance floor.

"I know that look," said George who followed Draco's eyes and saw perfectly clear what he was looking at, and how he felt about it. "Trust me, it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." he said to Draco. Draco told himself George was talking more to himself than to him and didn't answer. He continued to watch Hermione and Weasley dance with an increasing sense of unease, which climaxed when he saw how Weasley leaned into Hermione's hair and whispered things.

"That's it. It's now officially too much for me." Draco mumbled as he stood up. "See you at work, I've got to go," Draco said to George, turned on his heel and left the room. He barely said goodbye to Potter and Weaslett before he rushed out the door and disapperated back to London.

Once back in his flat Draco had to lean down against the wall and actually grab his chest in order, trying to make the pain go away. He sat like that for a few moments before he calmed his breathing and then he poured himself another fire whiskey and took a seat on the fire escape out side his window. As he lighted a smoke he tried for the life of him figure out why his reaction had been so strong when seeing Weasley leaning in and whisper into Hermione's ear. He'd seen them snog all the time back at Hogwarts, and sure, he didn't like it then, but it had never caused him physical pain before. He lost track of time of how long he sat out in the cold on the fire escape just going through his emotions. He was suddenly snapped out of his thought when he heard a knock on his door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Unexpected Turn of Events

He climbed back through the window and went to open the door. He had no idea of who could want something at this time of the night and he had a feeling the visit, whoever the visitor was, would be rather short and not very pleasant as he was not in the mood to see anyone at the time. That thought quickly vanished as he opened the door and found Hermione standing out side. Her hair had fallen down and was kind of messy. Her eyes were bloodshot as though she had been crying.

"Hermione… What are you..?" Draco begun but before he had a chance to finish Hermione burst into tears and threw herself around his neck.

"I'm soo.. sorry… to be… bothering… you this late…" she said between sobs, "But I didn't know… where else to go."

"You're always welcome here, you know that," Draco said as he stroked her back. He led her inside and with a wave of his wand he closed the door behind them. They walked into Draco's one room-flat and Draco gestured for Hermione to take a seat on his bed, as he did not have a sofa. Hermione sat down and was frustrated trying to make the tears stop roll down her face. Draco grabbed some tissues and handed them to her. He watched as she wiped the tears from her eyes and he felt his heart slowly breaking. He wasn't comfortable with people crying at all and it usually made him feel uneasy, but as he saw Hermione in this state he felt nothing but pure heartache. Not really sure what was an appropriate reaction, all he felt like doing was to hold her and comfort her so he slowly sat down next to her on the bed and put an arm around her. He dragged her closer to him and she put her head on his shoulder. He turned his face and kissed her gently on her forehead. At his gesture Hermione stopped sobbing. Draco did not know what to say in order to make her feel better so instead he just started stroking her hair, waiting for her to speak. This was something his mother used to do when he was upset when he younger, as he wasn't exactly voluble regarding feelings and emotions. They sat like that for a few moments in silence, and then Hermione took a deep breath and finally spoke;

"I broke up with Ron."

Draco didn't say anything but just hugged her closer to him.

"When we were dancing he started saying all these thing about how we should also get married and start out lives for real. When he did I just started panicking because it felt like things were moving too fast. So I excused myself and went out side. When I was thinking about it, it didn't make sense that I thought things were moving too fast, seeing as we've been together for so many years, you know. I then realized things were not in fact moving too fast, it was just not what I wanted. So I told him. I told him I'm not in love with him any more. He was gutted, naturally. And we started arguing. I just felt like I needed to get away from there and the only place I could think of that made me feel better was here." She stopped talking and looked up at Draco for some kind of response. Draco was at a loss for words. He couldn't deny feeling extremely pleased about the news of Hermione and Weasley splitting up, but he also knew he couldn't tell her that, at least not tonight. So instead he said;

"Hermione, I'm always happy to have you here, regarding the reasons. But it breaks my heart to see you like this and if there is anything I can do to help you, just tell me."

"Thank you." She said with a faint smile. "I was actually wondering, if it's not too much to ask…" she begun, "…If I could perhaps stay here tonight. I don't know where to go and I don't want to be alone." She bit her bottom lip and looked at Draco.

"Of course you can stay. Like I said, you are always welcome here." Draco smiled and rose from the bed. He walked into the kitchen and poured two glasses of fire whiskey. He returned out to the bed/living room and handed one glass to Hermione.

"Here, it will make you feel better."

Hermione took a sip and made a face when the burning cold liquid ran down her throat. She coughed.

"Not a big fan, ey?" Draco chuckled. "Don't worry, it will grow on you," he said and gestured for Hermione to follow him out to the fire escape. They both sat down and Draco pulled out his packet of smokes from his pocket and lit one. He took a drag and Hermione watched him close.

"Can I bum a drag?" she asked.

Draco handed her the cigarette and watched her as she took a deep drag. She exhaled and blew the smoke in Draco's direction. She didn't cough.

"I had no idea, Granger, that you were into this kind of filthy habit," said Draco with a smirk.

"Well, I'm full of surprises, that's what makes me such an interesting person," she said as she took another deep drag and Draco thought he saw a hint of a smirk in the corner of her lips.

"Well, I'll say." he said and reached out for the cigarette, which Hermione reluctantly handed back. Hermione seemed to be in a better mood and they sat out there on the fire escape talking about nothing in particular until they had both finished their fire whiskey and they were staring to get cold. Even though Hermione had fashioned her famous flames-in-a-jar finally they both were so cold and Hermione started shaking slightly. As they both started to yawn Draco suggested they should go inside for some shuteye so they climbed back through the window.

"Er…" Draco started, "How do you want to do this? I haven't got a sofa. But naturally you can have the bed and I'll sleep on the floor." Even though there was nothing else in the world he would rather do then to get in to bed next to her he still had some good manners and took pride in being a gentle man, at least from time to time.

"Don't be silly," said Hermione, "I don't want to kick you out of your own bed. And besides, that bed is big enough for both of us," she said and looked at Draco's not-even-queen-sized-bed.

"If you say so I'm not going to argue," Draco said and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Draco?" He heard Hermione call from the other room. "Do you have a t-shirt or something I can sleep in?" she asked.

"Look in the second drawer," Draco answered.

He heard Hermione giggle as she opened the drawer. Oh no, what did he have in there that he'd forgot about? Was it something embarrassing? He searched his mind but could not recall anything horrible to be found in the dresser. Hermione came into the bathroom wearing a black oversize t-shirt.

"The dresser, it's the one you assembled for you Muggle Studies project, isn't it?" She said, "I can't believe you saved it."

"Well, I consider it to be one of my greatest conquest, actually," Draco replied honest, "I keep it to remind myself of far I've come. There's an extra toothbrush under the sink. You can have it," he said and left Hermione in the bathroom.

He undressed, pulled the blanket of the bed and got down under it. He was still pretty cold so he made sure to be completely covered. He then begun to realize that in a few moment Hermione was going to be lying next to him. In his bed. He had no idea of how he was going to handle it. The moment he had wish for to happen for such a long time was about to come true. Even though not under the circumstances he'd necessarily hoped for, but non-the less. His thoughts were interrupted when Hermione came out from the bathroom and made her way to the bed and got into it, next to Draco.

"Well, someone is tucked in to an insane degree." Hermione said referring to the only part of Draco out side the blanket being his head.

"I'm still bloody cold." He said, almost in a rude manner. Immediately he regretted his harsh tone but Hermione didn't seem to take notices and moved a little closer to him, turned over so her back was facing Draco and simply said,

"I'm pretty cold myself too, actually."

Draco was not sure what this meant, if it in fact did mean anything, so he just lay there in silence. After a while he heard Hermione's breathing become slower and he realised she'd fallen asleep. He could also feel her body still shaking a bit, probably due to the cold.

"Hermione," he whispered. No answer. He decided she was in fact asleep and moved closer. He could feel how cold she was and turned towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist so her back was against his chest. At the feel of his touch she pressed herself closer to him and he had to repress a shiver when he felt her cold back against his own front. He could smell the fragrance of her vanilla perfume. Draco suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was now spooning Hermione, who hours earlier had broken up with her boyfriend of several years. He felt a sting of guilt. In an attempt to ease his consciousness he started thinking about different potions precipice and trying to remember how many rat's tails one would need in a shrinking potion. As this was successful Draco took a breath of relief and for the first time in a very long time Draco fell into a dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Cuddly Sleeping and a Rude Telly

When Draco awoke the next morning he did so in an empty bed. He felt a sting of sadness as he figured Hermione had must haft left as soon as she woke up. Perhaps she'd been freaked out when she woke up with Draco's arms tightly wrapped around her waist. He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid and pushing his luck last night. He then heard the water running in the bathroom and realised Hermione had in fact not left at all. This made him feel a huge relief and turned to lay on his back, hands behind his head. After a few moments Hermione appeared from the bathroom. When she saw Draco was awake she gave him a faint smile and decided to crawl down next to him in bed again. She looked up at the ceiling and Draco could see something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. When she didn't reply he continued, "Was I a cuddly sleeper? Did I make you uncomfortable?" he asked. Hermione laughed when she heard the expression 'cuddly sleeper'.

"Draco Malfoy, the cuddly sleeper…" she chuckled. "No you were just fine. A perfect gentle man, really. It was quite nice to be honest." Her smile then weakened as she undoubtedly started thinking about what had in fact bothered her.

"It's just… I don't know what to do with myself now. I don't have a plan. And I always have a plan. But now I don't have a clue of what to do. And to be honest I don't want to do anything, I don't want to see anyone or talk to anyone. I just want to disappear from the face of the Earth and sort out my thoughts and feelings by myself."

Draco turned his head and looked at her. She was so beautiful in the early morning light that was shining through the flat. She had tied her hair into a messy bun on top of her head and some hair still hung down on the side of her face. She lay on her side facing him, one leg outside the blanket with her knee bent towards him. Draco suddenly became very aware of how small his bed was, and how close she was. This made him feel a bit uneasy. He had to say something to take his mind of it.

"Well, then I think that's exactly what you should do." he said looking up at the ceiling. Hermione gave him a questioning look.

"All the years I've known you you've always been doing everything to please everyone else. I figure it's time you do exactly what makes you happy and those with a problem can sod off. You want to go M.I.A, then do so." he elaborated.

"Well, I still got my old flat in Muggle London, I guess I could move back there for a while." Hermione said after a moments thinking.

"Why did you keep it if you don't live there anymore?" Draco asked.

Hermione blushed briefly before she spoke.

"Don't judge me, okay?" she said.

Draco gave her a look saying he wouldn't and she continued;

"It's the flat I bought right before the war. As I told you I Obliviated my parents to keep them from harms way and I made sure to be set for necessities before I did. Since I didn't know if or when I would ever see my parents again – thank Merlin I did find them and was able to reverse the spell - I bought the flat so I would have at least something to come home, should I survive the war. I lived there the year Hogwarts was rebuilt but after we graduated I moved in with Ron. But I just couldn't give my up flat. I guess I felt the need for some sort of security if we'd ever break up. Guess I saw it coming years ago." Hermione sighed.

"Well, that doesn't seem the least bit odd to me. You did what you thought was right and evidently you made the right decision." Draco said simply.

"Don't you think it makes me a bit cynical? Doubting Ron's and my relationship all these years enough to keep my old flat?" Hermione asked and chewed her bottom lip.

"No, I'd say that's what makes you brilliant." Draco said a little too fast and he got a feeling he was being a little too honest a little too soon. What the bloody hell was the matter with him? What if she started screaming at him now, telling him how extremely inappropriate he behaved? Draco's mind raced and he became slightly nauseated. Hermione gave him a look he couldn't read.

"Well, I guess you're right." she finally said. "Now then, are you the type of person who offers your night guests breakfast?" she asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Normally I wouldn't, but I never figured you'd be one of these _night guests_. So for you, I'll make an exception." Draco smirked as he got out of the bed and pulled on a pair of black sweatpants.

After Draco made Hermione breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, fresh fruits, some tea and pumpkin juice they went out to see Hermione's old flat. Hermione had to borrow clothes from Draco since the only clothes of her own were the dress from last night and she made it very clear she was not about to do a walk of shame through London. Draco was rather impressed on how she made his black jeans, even though a bit baggy on her, and white t-shirt work together quite nicely with the messy bun on her head and the black heels she'd wore last night. To Draco's pleasure, Hermione's flat was not too far from his. Both his and hers flats were equipped with fireplaces and were connected to the Floo network so the distance shouldn't really matter, but Draco found there was something comforting having Hermione in such close proximity any way. Hermione decided to apperated back to the flat Ron and her had shared and move out properly. Meanwhile, Draco was asked to make himself feel at home and when she was back he could help her unpack. Draco did as suggested and looked around the flat. Other than the fireplace Hermione's flat consisted of a medium sized kitchen with a kitchen table, a living room with a small sofa, a coffee table, a large black box in some strange material and of course an enormous bookcase filled with books. There was also a small bedroom with a very comfortable-looking bed in which there were a lot of fluffy pillows and a bathroom with a clawfoot tub. Draco noticed the flat was rather impersonal; no photos of family or friends, no paintings either. After exploring the content of the bookcase Draco turned his attention to the big black box in the living room. There were a lot of buttons on the black box and a label that read Sony. Draco found another, smaller, black box on the coffee table with more buttons and a label that also read Sony. Figuring the two boxes were somehow connected he started pushing the buttons on the smaller box. When he hit one of the buttons a Muggle man appeared in the larger box. Draco, startled, drew his wand and pointed it at the man. The man was in his fifties, dressed in the most dull suite Draco had ever seen and was beginning to go bald. The man talked about some sort of Muggle facility that had been evacuated earlier the same week due to sabotage of an aeroplane engine. When Draco asked the man in the box what an aeroplane was the man rudely ignored him and instead a woman wearing a red dress appeared in front of a map of England and started predicting the weather. Draco was in the process of telling the woman in the red dress off whilst pointing his wand at her when Hermione apperated back to the flat with all of her stuff shrunken to fit into her trunk and Crookshanks in a firm grip. When she found Draco arguing with her telly she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Why are you laughing? These bloody wankers are being rude to me!" Draco angrily spat when Hermione started laughing.

"Draco, they can't hear nor see you. That's my telly, you tosser. You're watching the news channel." she said as she put Crookshanks down.

"A telly?" Draco said thoughtfully stroking his chin with his hand. "I've heard of those."

"Sure hope so, or else those Muggle Studies classes were a complete waste." said Hermione laughing as she opened her trunk and begun to unshrinking her things. Draco spent the rest of the day in Hermione's flat helping her to get settled. It wasn't until after one in the morning when Draco finally Flooed home to get some sleep before he had to go up and go to work the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Owl Mail

November had unnoticeably, apart from the small drop in temperature, become December. Ever since Hermione had moved back into her old flat she and Draco saw each other almost on a daily basis. Hermione was currently wringing a textbook about the war; a mission the Ministry of Magic had given her. She'd spent the months leading up this point gathering information and interviewing witches and wizards of importance and was now in the state of putting everything together. This meant she could do most of her work at her own choice of location. Sometimes she did sit at the Leaky Cauldron when Draco was working but in regards to her "not wanting to see anyone" she either worked from her own flat or in a café in Muggle London for most of the time. Some times she'd even use Draco's flat to work from whilst he was at work, as she said a change of environment did her well. Draco did not complain the least bit. When he got home from work and Hermione had been working from his flat she'd always have dinner ready for him. And she was an excellent cook. Last night she'd made him pasta and home cooked meatballs and they'd eaten it on the fire escape surrounded by twenty-something flames-in-a-jar that Hermione had fashioned to make dining outside in December tolerable.

It was now mid-December and the first thin layer of snow had fallen and settled outside making whole London glistering in a paler shade than usual. The morning light fell into the apartment making everything seem enchanted, as only the light of the morning can do. Draco yawned, stretched and then smoothly slid out of bed, pulled on a t-shirt and went into the kitchen. With a wave of his wand he made the breakfast start preparing itself smiling absentmindedly as he empty stared out the widow letting his mind drift back to last night dinner. Not that anything special had happened, they'd just ate, shared a bottle of wine, talked, laughed, and then Hermione had left. If Draco was to be honest with himself he really didn't like the "leaving part". No, he'd much rather hade have Hermione stay with him, but he figured as long as she came back he was okay with her leaving. As he stood there absentmindedly looking out the window admiring how beautiful London looked with the snow-covered rooftops he spotted an owl flying towards his window. Draco opened the window to let the bird in. The owl dropped an envelope on the kitchen counter, took a nibble of the toast bread and flew out the window again. Draco picked up the envelope and saw the Hogwarts's weapon shield on it. Curious what his old school could possibly want him he opened the envelope and pulled out a letter. He read it carefully several times, thinking he kept misunderstanding it. After reading it five times he decided this was something he could not deal with right now and put the letter in a cupboard.

Draco had a hard time focusing on his chores at work that day. Lucky for him, the Leaky Cauldron didn't have many guests at the moment and Tom, the innkeeper, had the type of management style where he let his employees do as they please, as long as no one nicked change from him. It was just past 11 o' clock and Draco was absentmindedly cleaning the counter when Hermione dumped her heavy bag on top of the counter and huffed in annoyance.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked and poured her a cup of coffee without asking if she wanted one.

"I just feel like I'm missing so much background information in my book." she sighed and took a seat at the counter.

"Well, what do you always do when in doubt?" Draco smirked.

"Go to the library of course. Well, yes the problem is my own library is not nearly as equipped as Hogwarts's was. I wonder if I could ask Professor McGonagall if I could use theirs?" Hermione said wondering taking a sip of the coffee.

"Speaking of Hogwarts, I got an unexpected owl mail this morning…" Draco begun.

Hermione gave Draco a curious look encouraging him to continue.

"The letter was from McGonagall and she said in her letter… Well apparently there has been some problem with the new Defends Against the Dark Arts teacher and as I understand it they won't be coming back after the Christmas holidays. Well the bottom line is McGonagall offered me the job as substitute teacher for the DADA-class. Starting in January." Draco blurred out and looked at Hermione for a reaction.

Hermione sat quiet for a while and Draco saw how a range of emotions flashed by in her eyes. After many moments of insufferable silence she finally spoke,

"Well that's great, isn't it? That's an amazing opportunity for you Draco. And you must be so honoured that Professor McGonagall wants you to teach Defends Against the Dark Arts. And I know you would do a terrific job, too," she said and smiled at Draco.

Even though he did not doubt the sincerity of what she said he could still hear in her voice there was something else she was thinking but not saying.

"Alright, cards on the table, full disclosure," Draco said, "I am deeply honoured that McGonagall wants me to substitute as the DADA-teacher, but truth be told I'm not sure I'm ready for that. First of all, I've never exactly done any _defence_ against the dark art, now have I? All my experiences in that field are more in the area of _support_ for the dark arts, and they are highly personal, it's not like I've done any of it because it's been my job. I'm not sure I've even processed it all and that I'm okay with it myself, how could I then possibly explain it to students?"

"Would you have to make it personal then?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know what else I know in the matter. Like I said, I've never had any professional training or anything. It all sort of just happened, and at the time it didn't seem like I had a choice," Draco said and looked down. His eyes landed on the dark mark on his left underarm. He stared at it with empty eyes and clenched jaws for a few seconded before he shook his head and continued, "Wouldn't it make more sense to ask someone like Potter, or you? Someone who actually knows what they are talking about."

Hermione leaned towards him over the counter and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sure that's what you feel now, but I'll bet anything you in fact know a hole lot more that you give yourself credit for," she said with a soft voice.

"Well, there's an other reason as well I'm reluctant to accept the job," Draco admitted, "It would mean I wouldn't see you for six months. I don't want to do that. I like seeing you almost every day."

He saw Hermione's eyes filling with emotions and he had to look away in order not to be overwhelmed himself.

"That's sweet of you, Draco. But you can't let me stand in the way for such a great opportunity. I think you should accept it. It's only one term and if you don't like it then so be it. And as far as 'us' goes…" she pointed back and forth between the two of them. "… I'm absolutely sure we'll work something out. Worst comes to worst, we'll only see each other during weekends."

"I don't want this to be over." Draco said in a small voice looking down at his hands.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed in horror. "I would like to believe our friendship is stronger than that. We are both intelligent people, we'll make it work for sure. I promise." She moved closer to him and embraced him in a tight hug. As Draco's nostrils filled with the faint hint of her vanilla perfume he felt reassured.

"You are the best. You know that right?" He said into the back of her neck.

"So you keep telling me," Hermione chuckled as they released from the hug, "And besides, no matter how dreadful of a DADA-teacher you might be you cannot _possibly_ be as bad as some of the others we've had."

"Maybe you're right." Draco chuckled. "But I still want to sleep on it so I'll send McGonagall an owl replying I'll get back to her come Boxing Day." He said, starting searching under the counter for a piece of parchment to scribble a reply to McGonagall on.

During Draco's lunch break he and Hermione went to the owl post office in Diagon Ally so Draco could send his reply to McGonagall. They'd just got inside the Leaky Cauldron when another owl came flying in dropping a letter off in the counter addressed to Draco.

"Honestly, how fast do owls travel?" Draco muttered and opened the letter. The letter this owl was carrying was not from Hogwarts at all. Evidently who ever it was from it must have been dreadful news because as Draco read the letter he became paler and paler until Hermione thought he was going to faint.

"What's the matter?" she asked worried. When Draco didn't answer she grabbed the letter and started reading it. It was from Draco's parents. It started off by accusing him for being a lousy son for not keeping in touch with them for the last months. It went on to further point out what a lousy son he was for not letting them know he now had a girlfriend (in their letter they informed Draco they "assume it must be this woman who's always sitting at the Leaky Cauldron talking to him every one of their friends is telling them about"). The letter closed by inviting both Draco and "this mysterious woman" to the Malfoy Manor for a Christmas dinner on December 21. When Hermione finished reading the letter she was just as pale as Draco was. Hermione was the one who broke the silence after a few minutes.

"Why the 21st?" she asked.

"I guess that's their way of saying 'you are such a lousy son so we don't want to spend actual Christmas with you'," Draco said and stared blank out into nothing. He regained consciousness and looked at Hermione and detected a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Hermione, listen to me carefully now, you really don't have to come. I could never ask that of you. I'll just go there and explain you're not my secret girlfriend, but my dear friend. If they don't like it they can sod off." he said and took her hand in his. As he did the sleeve of her robes fell down and reviled the scar with the word _mudblood_ his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange had given Hermione when she tortured her during the war.

"I want to come if you plan to go. I think it's time I met my best friends parents, properly, don't you think?" Hermione said with a brave voice.

Draco looked at her with admiration. She truly was the bravest and strongest person he had ever met. He knew that if the shoe would have been on the other foot and this was his decision he would run for it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – "Christmas Dinner" at Malfoy Manor

The 21st had now arrived and Draco and Hermione were getting ready to apperated to the Malfoy Manor to have "Christmas dinner" with Draco's parents. His parents still did not know who this "girlfriend" he was bringing was.

"I promise I won't let them give you a hard time. And we won't stay long. Just make a quick appearance, you know so they don't deprive me of my heritage once they're gone." Draco said in an attempt to joke and lighten the mood.

"That's an awful thing to say about your parents," Hermione gasped, "I'm sure they weren't all bad all the time."

"I think it's safe to say my father was. Mother on the other hand, she never truly shared the values. I guess it was hard to resist though, seeing as both her husband and sister were such big supporters of Voldemort." Draco said honest.

"Well still, they may very well deprive you of your heritage if you bring _me_ home to them." Hermione said in a small voice.

"Is this that you're worried about? Are you scared me parents won't approve of you?" He asked in disbelief. Hermione looked a bit nervous and gave a quick nod. That was the last thing he expected Hermione to worry about; he figured she'd be more scared for her own safety considering she was about to have dinner with his very prejudice parents. Draco pulled her close to his chest, hugged her tight and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"Of course, mother is old-fashion in her views and definitely thinks I should marry someone of high class. That of course could be a problem…" Draco said into her hair.

Hermione made a feeble attempt to hit him on his shoulder.

"You are not making me feel better." She said and glared at him.

Draco laughed.

"You are adorable when you try to be mad at me, do you know that?" he smiled at her.

"Now then. Shall we?"

They arrived outside and the gates of the Manor that swung open as they approached. Hermione had only been here once before, and it was during tragic circumstances. They walked along the path that lead up to the heavy front door. As they stepped onto the porch the door opened and Narcissa Malfoy greeted them. She gave Draco a warm hug and kissed him several times on each cheek.

"Oh Draco! My boy! How I've missed you!" she said between kisses. After she was done kissing him Draco broke free and put his arm around Hermione's waist.

"Mother, I would like to introduce to you, properly, my dear friend, _not_ girlfriend though, mind you; Hermione Granger." He said proudly.

Narcissa, who clearly had not noticed until Draco pointed it out who the woman he had brought actually was, looked a little shocked at first but quickly found herself and smiled brightly at Hermione.

"Of course, it's lovely to meet you miss Granger." She said and reached out her hand.

"Please, call me Hermione." Hermione mumbled as she took Narcissa's hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs Malfoy."

"Please, call me Narcissa. We are all family here." Narcissa said cheerfully.

Lucius Malfoy appeared at the door behind his wife. He nodded a stiff at Draco and said "Son." as he gave Draco a stiff hug. Draco returned the hug equally stiff.

"Father, I want to officially introduce you to my dear friend, _not_ girlfriend; Hermione Granger. I'm sorry you thought I was bringing a girlfriend. Sadly as I do not have one I hope you'll settle for meeting my best friend instead." Draco said and put his arm around Hermione's waist once again.

Lucius merely glanced at Hermione and gave Draco a look one gives a cat that just dropped a dead mouse on you bed, expecting a reward.

"Pleased to meet you, miss Granger." said Lucius between clenched teeth.

"Pleasure is all mine, Mr Malfoy." Hermione replied looking straight into Lucius's eyes.

Once the awkwardness of introductions was over and done with Narcissa suggested they'd all take a seat in the dining room, as dinner was almost ready. Draco and Lucius seemed to have engaged in a stare down and they kept shooting each other dark looks across the table. No one said much and as the first course appeared on the plates one could cut the tension with a knife.

"So, Hermione, dearie." begun Narcissa in an attempt to lighten the mood. "What do you do for a living now that you've graduated?"

"Actually, I was assigned by the Ministry of Magic to write a book and I would say I'm about half way done." Hermione answered and took a sip of wine.

"Well that's wonderful! Who could be better suited for writing a book? Draco always told us that you were the brightest witch of your year." Narcissa smiled.

"I'm quite positive I did not express myself using those words, but thank you for embellishing my statement, mother." Draco said.

Hermione gave him a warm smile.

"May I ask what the book is about? Is it fiction or facts?" asked Narcissa curiously.

Hermione swallowed before she answered,

"Well, it's actually a textbook about the war. It portrayals values of the wizarding community that allowed Voldemort to gain power, twice. I've done some interviews and gathered information and now I'm writing it."

"That does sound like a massive amount of work, must be very interesting though. I would love to read it when I get a chance." Narcissa said polite.

"I'll make sure to get you a copy first hand." Hermione replied.

They continued eating while politely small talking, everyone careful not to mention anything about Hermione's book, the war, the Ministry of Magic (as Lucius had been sacked after the war and still held a grudge), treatment of elves, Hermione's parents or any other blood-related topics or anything else that could make the situation more tense. Basically they kept talking about the weather. They had almost made it all the way through desert without any unpleasant topic being discussed when Narcissa asked her son:

"So Draco, are you still working at that bar or are you finally going to do something valuable with you degree?"

Draco looked at Hermione who smiled encouraging back at him. He figured all he really needed was her support so he took a deep breath and started telling his parents that he had in fact been offered to substitute Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts the following term.

For the first time in a long time Lucius looked up from his plate.

"Hah! Are _you_ going to be teaching _Defence_ Against the Dark Arts? You cannot be serious?" Lucius said and scowled.

This was it for Draco. All he'd ever wanted in his life was approval from his father, but he'd never gotten it. He didn't get it when he was young and performed well at school, he didn't get it when he was forced to do Voldemort's biddings and he didn't get it now when he tried to be a good person and make up for all the bad things he'd done in his life.

"Well I haven't accepted the job yet, but yes! They asked _me_ to teach _Defence_ Against the Dark Arts. If you have a problem with that, let it out! Being shy is not becoming on you, father!" Draco almost shouted as he stood up.

Narcissa gasped as Lucius also rose from his chair.

"The fact that they asked _you_ to teach something clearly you know _nothing_ about is pathetic. Pfft, _defence_ against the dark arts… I've always said that school was rubbish." Lucius sneered.

"Mr Malfoy, with all due respect, in my opinion Draco is more than qualified to be teaching such a subject. One of the most vital parts of counteract the use of dark magic is knowing what makes people practice it in the first place." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Lucius glared at her.

"Well, no one asked for your opinion, know-it-all." He snapped.

A million thoughts rushed through Draco's head at once, most of them being possible curses and hexes he would like to use on his father. He eventually came to his senses and instead of hexing his father Draco gave him a loathing look and then turned to Hermione.

"Get you cloak, Hermione, we're leaving. Mother, it was lovely to see you again." He said and took Hermione's hand and escorted her out of the dining room hall. Over her shoulder Hermione called out;

"Thank you for a delicious dinner, Narcissa!"

Hermione had barely gotten a hold of her cloak before Draco apperated them back to London.

As they got back to Draco's flat he didn't say much. He climbed straight out on the fire escape and lit up a smoke. Hermione also crawled out through the window and bummed a smoke from Draco. After a moments silence she said,

"Well that went well."

Draco gave a half smile, admiring that she was always in such a good spirit.

"Thank you for taking my defence." Draco said to her.

"We're a team, Draco. I'm always on your side" She simply answered.

Draco hugged her hard.

"I really don't know what I would do without you. You've made my whole life so much easier this past year. You are such an amazing person and I really do love you. Of all my heart." He said. This was the first time he'd said 'I love you' to Hermione, well actually the first time he'd said it to anyone apart from his mother. As soon as the words left his mouth he thought he'd feel stressed for making himself vulnerable if she didn't say it back, but he didn't. He realised he wanted to tell her that regardless whether or not she would say it back. He looked deep into her eyes and he saw how they glittered.

"I love you too," she said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Eggnog and an Offer one Can't Refuse

As Draco awoke the morning of Christmas Eve he did so in a better mood than he had been ever since they got back from the dreaded dinner at Malfoy Manor. One reason for this particular good mood was due to the dream that had woken him. It was a very pleasant dream involving a certain brown-haired, almond-eyed woman he happened to call his best friend. He quickly showered and slipped into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. The reason he stressed through his morning routines was because he expected Hermione over shortly. The next day, Christmas Day, they were all spending at Potter's at nr 12 Grimmauld Place and Draco and Hermione were bringing meatballs. Although Draco was no big fan of cooking food, and non the less the Muggle-way, Hermione had talked him into her Muggle recipe were going to be the best he'd ever tasted.

At 11 o' clock sharp Hermione appeared in Draco's fireplace.

"I brought eggnog!" she exclaimed happily as she joined Draco in the kitchen.

"Wicked! Did you also bring the time turner so we can set the clock to when it's socially acceptable to drink?" Draco smirked and raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"Come off it, Draco. It's Christmas for Merlin's sake! Were are you going today where you can't be a tad woozy?" Hermione cooed as she poured the eggnog in two glasses.

Draco happily accepted a glass.

"Cheers!" he said and raised his glass at Hermione.

Cooking the meatballs went surprisingly well, at least the first batch. The second batch of meatballs merely got an A according to Hermione, but just as that batch was done so was the second carton of eggnog and she let them pass. Once they started on the third batch of meatballs they also opened the third carton of eggnog. Both of them were quite sloshed by then, hence the makings of meatballs were a bit sloppy. Hermione 'accidently' smeared some mustered on Draco's noes and he retaliated by cracking an egg open on the top of Hermione's head watching the yolk slowly pour down her face and messy hair while she let out a shrill cry. The food fight was then at large and it only ceased when Draco and Hermione found them selves in a stand off, both of them holding on to one of the last two eggs each, ready to smash it on the others head.

"Truce?" Hermione asked, a mischievous smile spreading across her lips.

"Drop your egg, then we call it truce." Draco smirked, still holding his egg over Hermione's head.

"You drop yours first." Hermione urged, also holding her egg over Draco's head.

"On the count of three? One… Two…" Before Draco got to three Hermione cracked her egg on top of Draco's head. This surprised him so that he accidently dropped his own egg in the sink.

"You nutter! We were supposed to call it a truce!" Draco bellowed and he grabbed the Hermione around her waist when she tried to make a run for it. Hermione shrieked with laughter. He picked her up and sat her down on the kitchen counter were he placed his body between her legs and pinned her back to the cupboard with his right arm as his left arm reached for the last remaining carton of eggnog.

"No! No! No! Draco, DON'T you dare!" Hermione warned when she saw what he was planning.

"Should have called truce when you had the chance, sweetheart." Draco smirked as he slowly poured the eggnog over her head. She let out a shrill squeal as the eggnog drenched her completely. Hermione panted trying to get over the chock and when she had blinked the eggnog out of her eyes and stared into Draco's eyes. She pouted at him but Draco just kept smirking at the fury he saw was building up in the woman he had pinned on his kitchen counter.

"I would like it if you moved now." she said, her voice was stern but Draco heard she wasn't really upset with him.

"And let you make a mess all over my floors? Wouldn't think so." he smirked and stayed put.

"Draco Malfoy, you will move and let me down, do you hear me?" There wasn't really a question there. Draco contemplated his options for a brief moment before answering.

"As you wish." he said but before she had a chance to react he picked her up and carried her over his shoulder to the bathroom.

"Put me down this intense!" Hermione shrieked and Draco heard she was fighting hard not to laugh. Draco put her down on the toilet seat.

"Now, here's what's going to happen. I can't have you running around making a mess on my floors, now can i? I'm going to take a shower, your going to sit right here, making as little mess as possible. When I'm done I'll get you some clothes you can borrow and you will take a shower." Draco said looking into Hermione's eyes. She tried to pout but finally cracked a smile.

"Just make it quick so I can get out of these wet clothes." she sighed and made herself comfortable on the toilet seat.

"I'm not objecting to you taking them off right now." Draco smirked as he undressed; his back turned towards her, and stepped into the shower.

"At least we got two decent batches of meatballs." Hermione stated.

"Well, if any one asks where the rest is we can always tell them Crookshanks ate them." Draco said as he lathering his hair trying to get the eggshells out.

"Ming grabbing me the towel, Hermione?" Draco asked a few minutes later when he deemed all the eggshells gone. Hermione handed him the towel and after he dried himself he stepped out of the shower with the towel around his waist. As he did he could not help but notice the peculiar way Hermione was looking at him, or more correctly – looking at his torso.

"What? Did I miss some eggs?" Draco wondered and turned around to face the bathroom mirror.

"No, looks like you got it all." Hermione said with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Well, your turn. I'll lay out some clothes for you." Draco said and left the bathroom. He heard the water started running and made his way over to the Malm dresser he still hand and searched through the drawers for something for Hermione to wear. He found his old Quidditch jersey and smirked to himself. He grabbed it and a pair of black shorts and went back into the bathroom.

"I left you clothes on the top of the laundry basket." he called.

"Cheers, thanks." Hermione answered as she rinsed water from her hair.

Draco put on his pair of black sweatpants and dried his blond hair in a towel and went out in the kitchen to start cleaning up. On his way out to the kitchen he was interrupted by a knock on the door. Puzzled over who could possibly want something from him of Christmas Eve he opened the door, the towel now around his neck. To his surprise he found professor McGonagall standing outside, wearing a travelling cloak.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked, too surprised to be polite, instantly sobering up.

"Good day to you too, Mr Malfoy," she said and stepped inside.

Draco came to his senses and offered to take her cloak and hung it by the hangers.

"I'm sorry, professor, please come in," he said, "Can I offer you something warm to drink?"

"I never decline a nice hot cup of tea," professor McGonagall said, "But I shall make myself fairly short as I don't wish to disturb your Christmas more than necessary."

"So, what brings you here, professor?" he asked his former headmistress as he made way to the kitchen.

"I'll be straight with you, Mr Malfoy, I'm here in an attempt to persuade you to accept the job as substitute teacher for the Defence Against the Dark Arts," professor McGonagall said in a serious manner, "As I explained in the letter we've had some problems with the currents teacher, and I won't hesitate to say the matter is urgent. When the staff discussed who could possibly be able to do a good job with such a short notice, we all agreed on that that person would be you, Mr Malfoy."

"I'm very honoured indeed, professor, that you all seem to think that I would be the right person for the job, but as you understand, I have some hesitations about that I'm really suitable," Draco answered truthfully as they stepped into the kitchen, which now looked more like a war zone, and Draco started preparing tea.

"I have no doubt in my mind that your experiences and unique insight in the matter would bring a much needed angle to the subject," professor McGonagall begun but she cut her sentence short as she heard the toilet flush. Professor McGonagall's eyes glanced over the empty cartons of eggnog, the crushed eggshells on the floor, the two glasses on the counter and finally to Hermione's lingering eggnog-ass print next to the two glasses.

"Have I come at a bad time? Are you entertaining?" she asked, and Draco thought he heard a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"Well, I wouldn't say entertaining per say…" Draco begun but before he had a chance to say anything else the bathroom door opened and Hermione, wearing his old Quidditch jersey and a pair of short black shorts, stepped out.

"So, think you're being funny now, Draco. Do you…?" she begun but stopped as soon as she saw that Draco was not alone and she blushed deeply, "Professor McGonagall, what an unexpected surprise!"

"That would be my reaction as well, Ms Granger, seeing you here," said professor McGonagall with almost equally red cheeks as Hermione, "I was just in the neighbourhood and hoped to persuade Mr Malfoy to accept the position as the substitute Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. But now I realise that I clearly have come at a most inappropriate time."

There was a moment of silence while everyone was carful not to make eye contact. Hermione was the first to break the silence,

"As I've told you before, Draco, I really do think you should accept the job. I know you would be amazing and be able to bring a dimension to the subject of true value."

"That's exactly my point as well, Ms Granger. Of course, I had no idea there were other…" professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment, "… _circumstances_ Mr Malfoy had to consider. I understand now there might be a reason not to leave London, rather than a reason not coming back to Hogwarts that will be the foundation for this decision."

Draco, who had not spoken a word in a while, suddenly regained his ability to speak. Without having though it through properly he said;

"I'll accept the job on one condition; that Hermione also can come to Hogwarts and stay with me." This wasn't anything he had discussed with Hermione. He wasn't even sure if she would want to live at Hogwarts at all, but he figured it would be worth a shot.

"Professor McGonagall, I would love to get the chance get access to the library again. That would really help me getting on with my book." said Hermione with sparkling eyes pleading at the headmistress.

Professor McGonagall looked at her two former students, the two people who she never would have considered being friends out side of school, let alone involved in a romantic relationship – or what ever this was. As she stood there and looked from one the other she suddenly smiled.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that Hogwarts would be very lucky to gain two such bright young wizards and witches as yourselves, and who would I be to refuse the school of such a privilege," professor McGonagall exclaimed, "We will make the arrangements necessary and have a carriage pick you up at Hogsmead on the evening of January 1st. That will give you some time to get settled before term starts."

Draco could barely believe what he'd just heard. It was the best Christmas present he could've ever asked for.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Real Christmas

"We're here! Merry Christmas!" Hermione announced as she and Draco entered nr 12 Grimmauld Place on the 25th of December. Weaslett greeted them at the door hugging both Hermione and Draco and Hermione handed her friend the container of meatballs.

"I never got the chance to thank you, Malfoy, for the book you gave Harry and me as engagement present." Weaslett smiled at Draco as they made their way into the kitchen where the food was preparing it self.

"Hope you find something you like." Draco answered as he looked around the kitchen. Although he recognised the old Black residence from books in the Malfoy Manner library he'd never himself seen it. He suspected Potter had done some reconstruction as well as he thought it looked cosier than you'd expect from an old pureblood-house.

"Harry told me you recommended Machu Picchu, and I find that very exiting." Weaslett said as she placed the meatballs in the oven for heating.

"When did you go to Machu Picchu?" Luna Lovegood, who was sitting at the table just looking up from her copy of the Quibbler, asked curiously. Neville Longbottom sat next to Luna. He gave Draco a polite nod and hugged Hermione.

"Right after the war. Did some soul searching." Draco answered honest.

"Hermione, Malfoy! You're here! Merry Christmas!" Potter greeted happily as he came into the kitchen. Hermione received a warm embrace from her old friend and Draco a firm handshake.

"I never fancied the handshake." George Weasly said as he came into the kitchen after Harry. "We're way past that any way." he continues as he hugged Draco.

"That's right, mate." Draco said patting George on the back as he returned the hug. "Haven't seen you around the Leaky Cauldron for a while. What've you been up to?" he asked George.

"Aren't we nosy?" George smiled peevishly.

"Well you won't even tell your own family what you're up to these days. We're all nosy!" Weaslett said accusingly with an uncanny resemblance to Mrs Weasley.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, little sister. All will be reviled in due time." George promised. "By the way, I though mum and dad were coming." George asked his sister.

"Alas, since the family Christmas celebration was split up due to Ronald's shitty auror training schedule and Charlie refusing to part from his dragons even on Christmas mum and dad figured they got a free pass and went to visit Bill, Fleur and their little bundle of joy. Keep forgetting her name though. Any way, they took Teddy with them. And honestly I really don't know what Percy's up to these days." Weaslett said as she stirred the gravy on the stove.

"Victoire. And who cares about Percy?" George said drawling.

"Who's Victoire?" Luna asked.

"Bill and Fleur's kid. Ginny's and my niece." George said.

To Draco this was good news and he felt relieved. Although he didn't really have a reason to dislike the youngest Weasley-son he was rather grateful he wouldn't be there. And by the looks on Hermione's face, so was she.

"So, it's just going to be us? Nice cosy friends Christmas then." Hermione said smiling.

"I'd rather say we all happed to be the odds ones out in our families, so we have to spend it together less we want to be alone for Christmas." George said unconcerned. Everyone in the room looked at him, without speaking. Weaslett shot her brother a stern look. It was obvious that George was a little too accurate for what everyone was comfortable admitting.

"But enough of me spreading Christmas joy! Lets eat. I'm famished." George finally said and the awkward moment was over. Potter waved his wand and all the food plates sailed of the stove and landed neatly on the table. Draco took a seat in between George and Hermione. Across from him sat Potter and Luna Lovegood. On Lovegood's right sat Longbottom. Weaslett sat at the top of the table.

"Oi! Hermione, Malfoy." Weaslett called across the table. "Were are the rest of the meatballs? I thought you two were making like three batches."

Hermione looked a little flushed when asked about the meatballs.

"Well, we ran into some problems during the third batch. There was a slight disagreement on how many eggs were needed to make it. Hermione was adorably wrong. The point is; there are only two batches." Draco answered casually. Weaslett gave both Draco and Hermione suspicious looks that made Draco feel a tad uneasy, but he quickly shook the feeling.

"Looks to me like we're not going to starve at least." Lovegood said with a spacy look on her face. Dinner went on nicely. Potter was also in auror training with Weasley, although no one at the auror office seemed to dare making the Boy Who Lived working on Christmas Day. Lovegood and Ginny were doing their final year at Hogwarts and were due back from Christmas break as classes begun again on 3rd of January. Potter asked Hermione how her book was going and Hermione told them she was going back to Hogwarts as spring term started to do research from the library. Everyone around the table found it to be good news, especially Weaslett and Lovegood who were glad they got their friend back to school.

"Speaking of Hogwarts…" Hermione began giving Draco an encouraging smile. Draco tried to tell Hermione with his eyes to not say anything. He didn't know why exactly, but he didn't feel comfortable talking about his job as a substitute DADA-teacher here. It had just occurred to him that he was having Christmas dinner with two soon-to-be-students. Hermione, however, didn't seem to mind or notice Draco's concerned looks.

"… I've heard some rumours that this years Defence Against the Dart Arts teacher won't be coming back this term." Hermione finished.

"How do you know that?" Weaslett asked.

"Because I know who will be your substitute teacher." Hermione smiled.

"Oh, who might that be?" Lovegood asked looking at Hermione with her big, round eyes.

Hermione gave Draco an encouraging look.

"Well, that would be me." Draco said plainly. "Professor McGonagall offered me the positions and I accepted it yesterday, with a little persuasion from Hermione."

"Wonderful! Then there will be one more friendly face back at Hogwarts this term." Lovegood said dreamy and smiled at Draco. Draco didn't really know what to make of this girl, was she being serious or was she pulling his leg? He looked over at Weaslett who seemed to force a smile towards him.

"Well, Professor Malfoy! Congratulations!" Potter said and smiled at Draco. At least his smile was sincere. Longbottom also wished Draco congratulations and good luck.

"I wish you way better fortune that the other poor sods who had the job before you, Professor Malfoy." George said and gave Draco a sympathy pat on his shoulder.

"Cheers, mate." Draco mumbled.

"Don't worry about it." said George.

"You will probably be fine, though, right. You said you were substituting, does that mean it's only for this term?" Weaslett asked.

"Oh, yeah. Nothing permanent. Just helping McGonagall putting out a fire." Draco said.

"If you were offered the position full time, would you accept it?" Weaslett asked curiously.

"Well, I…" Draco begun, glanced over at Hermione for a short second before he continued, "… I don't know, really. I guess we'll se if we ever cross that bridge."

"I think it's safe to assume our DADA-classes will be very interesting this term." Weaslett said and gave Draco a look he couldn't quite read.

After dinner, desert, gift exchanges and way more eggnog that neither Draco nor Hermione were in the mood for due to their consumption the previous day the two of them thanked Potter for having them over and left nr 12 Grimmauld Place. Draco apperated them back to London were their flats were but since neither of them felt quite sleepy yet they decided to walk around the streets of London for a bit. London was covered in a thin layer of freshly fallen snow and the light from the Christmas decorations made the city seem enchanted. Hermione grabbed Draco's arm in both of hers and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked through Finsbury Park.

"Did you notice something off about Weaslett tonight? She was a bit cheeky, wasn't she? I don't think she quite liked the idea of me as her DADA-teacher." Draco said as they walked past the very closed Finsbury Park Café.

"No I didn't notice anything off. What do you mean? Did she say something?" Hermione asked, still with her head on his shoulder.

"It wasn't what she said, more the way she said it. Something happened during the evening. She seemed much happier to see me when we arrived, but at the end of the evening she was rather cold towards me. Didn't you notice?" he asked as he frowned, trying to figure out what had happened.

"I'm sure you're just imagining it. It must be your nerves kicking in." Hermione said reassuring.

"Guess you're right. You are most of the times, you know." Draco said and smiled to him self.

"Draco." Hermione said and stopped. Draco stopped too and turned towards her, expecting her to say what was on her mind. She didn't say anything. She just stood in front of him, looking into his grey eyes. Just when he was about to ask her what she planned on telling him she took one step closer to him, reached up on her toes and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. The kiss wasn't short, but it was over before Draco gained control over his body.

"Merry Christmas, Draco." Hermione said and smiled a sort of shy smile at him.

"Merry Christmas, Hermione." Draco said and smiled right back at her.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Back at Hogwarts

It was now January 1st and Draco and Hermione had made all the necessary arrangements for their departure to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had left Draco with a curriculum for the rest of the term so he would have something to work from. Draco was still free to make some adjustments, as long as the subjects on the finals were covered. Whilst going over the list of books required for each year Draco was happy to find much of the books were still the same from his schooldays and luckily for Draco the few additional books Hermione just happened to already own. Before departing his small apartment in London on the eve of January 1st Draco felt like he had the situation under control. He had studied the curriculum carefully and re-read all the books. Trunks packed Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and they apperated to Hogsmead where a carriage pulled by thestrals awaited them.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing them. Makes you realise how much we've actually been through, doesn't it?" Hermione said in a low voice referring to the ominous horse-like creatures.

"When were you first able to see them?" Draco asked.

"When I came back the sixth year. After Sirius… passed." she trailed off.

Draco felt a sting of guilt. It had been his aunt Bellatrix, yet again, who killed Sirius Black. Draco shrugged, trying to tell himself that he is not his family.

"How about you?" Hermione asked.

Draco swallowed hard before answering; regretting he'd asked Hermione in the first place.

"Also sixth year. The summer before the sixth year Voldemort killed Professor Burbage and had Nagini eat her. It was in the Manor. On our dining room table." he said in a small voice looking out of the window of the carriage.

Hermione grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

"That wasn't fair for you to have to witness. But you made it through that; just like you will make it through anything." she said simple.

Draco exhaled and kissed her hand.

"With your support I know I can." he said and pulled her closer to him as the carriage took them closer to Hogwarts.

They arrived at the castle just before the dinner feast and Professor McGonagall greeted them at the gate. She told them their trunks would be carried to their room, which she would show them to after dinner. Even though the spring term had not yet started and many students wouldn't be back until classes started on January 3rd Professor McGonagall insisted on introducing them to the students who were still at Hogwarts. As they walked into the castle and into the Great Hall Draco felt like a student again. He had to keep reminding himself that he was now walking through the Great Hall as a professor. The idea still seemed ridiculous to him. They followed Professor McGonagall to the heads table where she showed them their seats. Once all the students entered the hall Draco noticed many of the few students who were spending their Christmas Holiday at school gave both him and Hermione curious looks. Most of the students obviously recognised both him and Hermione since they graduated just last year. The first years and some of the second years were still new faces for Draco.

"Welcome, dear students." Professor McGonagall greeted the students as they took their seats. "I know it's not customary to make announcements when there are still so many absent. I do however have two announcements to make tonight as we have two new faces to welcome to out school, no doubt I will make the same announcement once we are all back from our holiday. Firstly, I would like to welcome Ms Granger back to Hogwarts. She is currently writing a textbook on the Second Wizarding War and Hogwarts is very honoured to have our library at her disposal for research." Hermione stood up and waved a small wave to the students who clapped politely.

"Secondly, I would very much like to welcome Professor Malfoy back to our school, who will be your substitute teacher in Defence Against the Dark Arts this term. Professor Malfoy has kindly agreed to take on this very important job and he has my, and the staffs, full support, and we are very thankful that he is helping us out this term." Professor McGonagall said. Draco rose from his chair and gave a small wave, just like he'd seen Hermione do. The students also gave Draco a polite applauds and Draco sat down again.

"Now that that's sorted – lets dig in!" Professor McGonagall announced and the food magically appeared on the plates.

Draco found it rather odd sitting at the staff table, as he'd spent close to eight years sitting at the Slytherin table. During dinner he received a warm welcome from the other staff member. Professor Slughorn merrily told both Draco and Hermione he was happy to have some decent people to discuss potions with. Professor Flitwick came up and wished Draco good luck and started giving him tips for teaching and announced his joy of having such bright young wizards and witches back at Hogwarts. Madame Hooch came up to Draco and told him she was happy to have another Quidditch fan on the staff team. Professor Sinistra came up to them and wished them welcome back and that she was happy to see more of them. Hagrid, however, was not making any attempts on seeming like he was glad to see Draco again but he practically beamed at Hermione inviting her to tea in his cabin the next day, not bothering inviting Draco. Hermione happily accepted. Over all Draco thought dinner went well and he felt much more welcome by the rest of the staff than he'd expected. After dinner Professor McGonagall escorted Draco and Hermione to their quarters. Professor McGonagall made it perfectly clear that she did not wish to pry in Draco and Hermione's relationship but she assumed they would be comfortable sharing a dorm. Hermione assured the professor they would. Draco was surprised to find that they were given the same dorm they had previous year as Head Girl and Head Boy. Apparently Peeves, the obnoxious poltergeist who terrorised the school, had caused a rather problematic water leak and sett lose a cage of Cornish Pixies in the dorm right before the start of the year so the new Head Boy and Head Girl had been located elsewhere. The leak had now been fixed and the pixies were all caught, Professor McGonagall presumed. She gave Draco and Hermione the password and bid them good night. After Professor McGonagall had left Draco took a seat on the sofa by the fireplace and put his feet up on the coffee table.

"It's strange being back, don't you think?" Hermione asked him sitting down next to him on the sofa.

"As we walked into the castle and the Great Hall I had to remind myself several times I not here as a student anymore." Draco said and put his arm behind Hermione on the backrest. Hermione leaned into his side and took a deep breath.

"It's nice though. Being here I mean. I've always felt safe here." she said as she closed her eyes for a moment. Draco absentmindedly stroke her hair as he hummed in assent. Now that he relaxed he noticed how tired he was. Tired from dealing with his parents, tired from dealing with his new found (supposedly better) personality, tired from going over curriculums and books, tired from fear of not being able to pull off the teaching job. And perhaps the thing that tired him the most; not being able to figure out what the kiss Hermione gave him on Christmas meant. Had it just been a simple Christmas kiss, or had it meant something more? Draco was getting tired of guessing, but at the same time he didn't have the energy to figure it out. His own feelings for Hermione were clear as day; he was in love with her. That much was clear to him, and had been for quite some time. What he was going to do about it, however, he didn't have a clue. He had no idea how to be a good boyfriend, a partner. His parents hadn't exactly set an example of affections relationship. In the beginning of his relationship with Pansy he'd never considered her feelings or bothered to make an effort; he'd been too preoccupied avoiding death by Voldemort. After the war when he felt ready to emotionally connect with Pansy, he realised they'd grown apart. Now, over a year later after their breakup he hadn't as much as gone out on one date. Well, sure, he'd spent a few nights with various witches but it was nothing even remotely resembling a date. For this, he blamed Hermione. No other witch Draco had met the last year made him feel the way Hermione did, and he'd slowly come to the realisation that no other witch ever would. He studied her peaceful face; having her near him soothed him and made him feel like he didn't have a care in the world. Hermione looked up at him and his silver grey eyes met her amber. Draco smiled at her. Hermione smiled back.

"Well, I'm off to Bedfordshire." Hermione said and sat up. She leaned in and kissed Draco on the cheek.

"Sweet dreams." was all Draco could think of to say.

He watched Hermione as she levitated her trunk and walked up the staircase to her old Head Girls room. Draco drew a deep sigh before he followed her example and levitated his own trunk to his old room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Professor Malfoy

First day of spring term came quicker than Draco would have wanted it to. He had studied the curriculums carefully and had once again re-read all the course literature, yet he still felt like he didn't have a clue what he was doing as he stood in front of his first class Monday morning. His first class of the day was first years, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The class had taken their seats in a quiet and organised manner and were now staring at their professor, waiting for him to speak. Draco sensed some sort of tension in the air, something quite resembling fear. He guessed his reputation preceded him.

"Good morning, class." Draco addressed the students with a sort of stern look on his face. "I'm Professor Malfoy and I'll be your substitute teacher for the rest of the term." he continued, although he knew the students already were aware of this fact since Professor McGonagall had told everyone last night. The students looked terrified, probably due to the fact that his words sounded a lot more threatening than he intended. Looking out on the horrified faces of his first class Draco decided then and there that fear would not be the way he would relate to his class. He decided to address the elephant in the room.

"I assume many of you have heard the name Malfoy before, and probably not associated with a positive experience. I trust you all know there was a war going on in the Wizarding World that ended here, at the Battle of Hogwarts May 2nd two years ago. I also figure most of you know what part the Malfoy family played in that war. For those of you who don't know; the Malfoy's supported Voldemort." There was a collective quiver spreading through the class as Draco mentioned the Dark Lord's name.

"I come from a family of Death Eaters, my father and aunt were, to mention a few. I myself was one. I've met Voldemort and I did his bidding." The class looked more horrified at this point of his speech then when he started.

"Why, you might ask. Why is he here? Why is he telling us this? Well, I'll tell you. I'm here because I've seen it all. I've seen the dark arts and I've seen war and I know what it does. Practising the dark arts does not lead to power and success. It leads to isolation, fear and grief. I'm telling you this so you know where I'm coming from. Never have I ever felt so scared and alone as I did when I was forced to carry out Voldemort's commands. I'm really not here to tell you my story, of how I cocked up; I'm here to teach you how to defended yourselves from the dark arts. Any questions?" he ended his improvised speech.

A fragile-looking boy with brown hair and glasses raised a trembling hand.

"Yes?" Draco said looking at the boy.

"Do you have the Dark Mark on your forearm?" the boy asked with a shaky voice.

Draco sighed in annoyance. He rolled up his left sleeve and showed the class the faded, yet very visible, Dark Mark. Many of the students drew a shaky breath.

"Now that that's out of the way; I would like you all to turn to page 394 in _Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners."_ Draco said unyielding and the class hurriedly started turning pages in their textbooks.

"Now then, what can you tell me of curing werewolf bites?" Draco asked looking out over the class.

Draco's first day of teaching went, well, better than expected. All the classes pretty much followed the same pattern; Draco introduced himself, told the class a bit about his background, was asked to show the Dark Mark and then without any room for negotiation Draco turned his attention to the course curriculum. It was now the fifth period and his last class for the day; seventh year Gryffindor and Slytherin. Draco started this class the same way he'd started every other and when he rolled his sleeve down for the fifth time that day he said,

"Well, now that that's sorted; I would like you to…" he cut his sentence short as he saw Weaslett raise her hand.

"Yes, Ms Weasley?" he said, raising a curious eyebrow.

"I was just wondering, _professor_ , was being a home-wrecker something you enjoyed during your time as a Death Eater or is that habit you've just recently picked up?" Weaslett sneered whilst giving Draco a dark look.

To put it mildly, Draco was shocked by Weaslett's question. Apparently so were the rest of her classmates as they all turned to look at Draco with big eyes. Draco took a deep breath to remain calm.

"Seeing as your question, Ms Weasley, isn't relevant to dark arts or nonverbal spells, which are todays topics for discussion; I will choose not to comment on your question." Draco answered coolly. "Now, I would like the class to pair up so you can practice…"

"So I take it my brother's girlfriend wasn't the first one you've nicked." Weaslett snorted, interrupting Draco.

Draco's already pale face turned a whiter shade and his eyes grew darker and he looked at Weaslett and felt his temper rising.

"Detention, Ms Weasley. My office; tonight at eight o' clock. For disrupting the class. You will do wise to remember to raise your hand in my class before speaking." Draco said calmly, yet his words were icy and he could see Weaslett started regretting pushing Draco.

"Now, class. If there are no more interruptions; split into pairs and start practising nonverbal spells." Draco addressed the class who hurried to oblige their professor.

One hour later Draco was sitting in the sofa in the common room, slowly massaging his temples to block the headache he felt coming on, when the portrait swung open and Hermione climbed through.

"I just had the best day! I spent the whole day in the library and Madam Pince gave me full access to the Restricted Section." Hermione informed Draco excitedly as she sat down beside him on the sofa. "How was your first day, Professor Malfoy?" she smiled.

"Well, I got asked to show my Dark Mark about five times and got called a home-wrecker, but that was only once. And then I gave a student my first detention. So over all I'd say it went pretty well." Draco said sarcastically and continued massaging his temples.

"What do you mean called a home-wrecker? Whom by? And why?" Hermione asked confused.

"Apparently Weaslett is under the impression I 'nicked you from her brother', a theory she shared with me _and_ the entire class." Draco said rolling his eyes.

"Has she gone completely mental?" Hermione almost shouted and quickly shot up from the sofa. "I'm going to have a little chat with her and sort this whole thing out. Like you had anything to do with me breaking up with Ron. What an inappropriate and disrespectful thing to say! And to your professor, and in front of the whole class non the less!" Hermione continued as she paced around the common room.

"No, Hermione. You are not going to have a chat with Weaslett." Draco said tired.

"But she can't say things like that!" Hermione protested.

"I'm fully aware of that. That's why I gave her detention tonight. I'm seeing her in my office eight o'clock." Draco continued calmly.

"What are you going to have her do? You'll not have her polish ornament candelabras, will you?" Hermione wondered.

"No, _I'm_ going to have a chat with her." Draco answered but Hermione looked a bit anxious.

"I'm not going to threaten her." Draco scowled at Hermione's anxious facial expression.

"I didn't say I though you were." Hermione said in defence.

"But you thought it." Draco simply said.

"No, I didn't." Hermione said.

"Whatever. My plan for her detention is simply to have her explain where she got that idea and then get her to stop spreading rumours about her professors personal life." Draco muttered.

"That actually sounds like an appropriate punishment for her wrongdoing." Hermione said. "Let's go down and get some dinner before your first detention." she smiled.

"Yes, let's. I can't wait to find out if rumour still travels as fast as when we were in school." Draco sighed and followed Hermione out the portrait hole and down to dinner.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Detention

Draco was sitting behind his desk in his office on the second floor, filling in some paper, when Weaslett knocked on his door, eight o' clock sharp.

"You may enter." Draco answered and Weaslett stepped in to his office.

"I'm here for detention." Weaslett muttered.

"Excellent, have a seat, Ms Weasley." Draco said gesturing to the empty chair in front of his desk. "Would you like some tea?" he asked her as he put down his quill and made himself a cup.

"What exactly will my detention involve, Malfoy?" Weaslett asked eyeing Draco with suspicion.

"It's _Professor_ Malfoy here." Draco reminded her calmly. "Your detention will simply involve talking, and I find tea to be an excellent conversation starter." he continued as he poured Weaslett a cup.

"What will I be talking about, _professor_?" Weaslett said with gritted teeth.

"I'm simply asking you to tell me how it is that you are under the impression that I 'nicked your brother's girlfriend'." Draco quoted and took a sip of his tea.

Evidently Weaslett had not been expecting this and she looked a little confounded.

"Well, you and Hermione are awfully close for _just being friends_." Weaslett begun, expecting Draco to deny this, when he didn't she continued, "I think it's obvious to any one who sees you two together that there is more going on between you."

"So what if it was? I'm not saying that it is, but I would like you to explain how that means I'm a home-wrecker." Draco said.

"I know you two talk about everything! I mean, I've always known you two were close, ever since you were heads together your last year here. But I saw just how close you are at Christmas. The way you looked at each other when talking about future plans, the _disagreement_ over the meatballs and the glances. I wanted to kick myself for not seeing it sooner. It's obvious you two are involved and I'll bet anything this has been going on longer than you care to admit. Since you and Hermione talk about everything I'll bet you also talked about her relationship with my brother. I know you can be a bit of a smooth talker and I know you never saw eye to eye with Ron. You can't make me believe you never put ideas in Hermione's head to break up with him." Weaslett spat out, the colour of her face had now taken on the same shade as her hair.

"Do I understand correctly that you believe that I manipulated Hermione into breaking up with your brother and in order to pursuit a relationship with her myself?" Draco asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Basically, yes." muttered Weaslett.

"Very well then, I'm going to tell you something, Ms Weasley. And what I'm telling you now I do not do as your professor, but as someone who you share a best friend with." Draco said and watched Weaslett carefully.

"Ginny, I promise you; Hermione and I are not romantically involved. However, you are right that Hermione and I are close. I would admit it would look rather strange observing our friendship from an outsider's perspective. She is my best friend. I trust her completely and I do tell her everything. You know all about my background, as do she; can you imagine what it feels like for me to be able to trust someone completely after living with frickin' Voldemort and his merry men of Death Eaters?" Draco asked calmly.

"As a matter of fact, I can." Weaslett said in a small voice. "I didn't have him living in my house, but he did live in my head for a good part of my first year here." She looked down at her cup.

"Then you also know how it feels to be accepted and trusted by someone even after you've royally cocked up, don't you?" Draco said, carefully watching Weaslett.

"I suppose I do." Weaslett mumbled and took a sip of her tea.

"Well, it seems Hermione trusts me and I can tell you, being friends with Hermione has made me a better person, it really has. I care a great deal about her, and her happiness is very important to me. I would never, not in a hundred lifetimes, manipulate her or talk her into something just so I would gain something out of it. We never once talked about her relationship with your brother until they broke up. And even then, we didn't _talk_ about it; she just told me why she broke up with him. Sure, I'll be the first one to admit that when we were still in school I didn't always have the nicest things to say about your brother, nor about your fiancé either for that matter. But that was old news, really. My entire repertoire of insults regarding your brother all involved red hair, vacant expression, lots of siblings or hand-me-down-robes. I must admit I was not very creative there. And you know Hermione; come on – do you really think anything I might have said about your brother in school has affected her to break up with him?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"Of course not. She's smarter than that." Weaslett said, looking up at Draco. Draco gave her a short smile.

"So, now after we've talked I'm going to ask you again; how come you are under the impression that I 'nicked your brother's girlfriend'?" he asked.

Weaslett took a moment to think before she answered.

"I suppose I may have jumped to some conclusions based on not-so-hard-facts, just like Harry said. I suppose what I'm trying to say is; I don't actually think you're a home-wrecker and I'm sorry, Malfoy." she said slightly embarrassed. Draco was quite surprised to learn Weaslett had been talking to Potter, and that Potter evidently was with Draco on this.

"That's quite alright, Ginny. Your apology is accepted. I would however much appreciate it if you in the future, should you have similar concerns involving my personal life, addressed these issues with me directly and not in front of the whole class." Draco said and gave Weaslett a strict look.

"Of course, I'm really sorry I made a scene today." Weaslett said giving Draco an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it. Water under the bridge now." Draco said.

"As long as you're not speaking to me as my professor, do you mind if I ask you a question? I've got a feeling I might be pushing my luck here, but I've got to ask." Weaslett said, suddenly looking a bit mischievous.

"You may ask, I can't guarantee I'll answer." Draco replied.

"You _are_ in love with Hermione, aren't you though?" Weaslett asked. Draco heard it was an honest question and this time there was no accusation in her voice. Draco felt his cheeks burning a bit and he was suddenly grateful his office was quite dimly light so that Weaslett couldn't see the redness spreading up his neck onto his face.

"You are quite right that would be pushing your luck, Ms Weasley. Consider your detention fully served. You may now return to your common room." Draco said and started fiddling with his parchments. Weaslett rose up from her chair and made her way to the door.

"Don't worry, professor, I won't tell the rest of the students. I won't tell my best friend, Hermione, either. But I really do think _you_ should." Weaslett said and opened the door.

"Thank you, professor Malfoy, for the tea. You were right; it really is a great conversation starter." she smiled as she closed the door behind her leaving a stunned Draco alone in his office. Had he just gotten Weaslett's blessing to ask out Hermione?

When Draco climbed through the portrait hole later that evening that evening he found Hermione in the common room, on the sofa, sleeping with a heavy book on her chest. Draco couldn't help but smile to himself. He walked over and picked up the book and placed it on the coffee table next to the sofa. For a moment he considered letting Hermione sleep on the sofa, but decided against it, as he knew she would have a sore neck in the morning. He knew from experience how a night on than sofa treated ones neck as he'd numerous times during his last year fallen asleep on that very same sofa after studying. He carefully picked Hermione up in his arms and carried her towards her room. As he walked up the stairs he felt Hermione's arms grabbing a hold around his neck.

"How did detention go?" she asked sleepy, her eyes still closed.

"Fine, it's all sorted out now. Go back to sleep." Draco said softly and put Hermione down on her bed.

"I'm so proud of you, you know that right?" Hermione said not opening her eyes as she made herself comfortable in the bed.

"Yeah, what gives?" Draco asked as he reached over her to cover her with a blanket.

"I know Ginny insulted your pride today, and you decide to talk to her and sort everything out. Two years ago you wouldn't have handled the situation the same way. You're a good man, Draco." Hermione said and hugged her pillow.

"It's all you, you know. You've always pushed me to be better. In school you gave me a run for my money being top of the class. I studied harder so I could beat you in classes. I know now that I handled it poorly when you outperformed me and for that I'm sorry." Draco said and stroked a stray lock of hair out of Hermione's face. She smiled at his touch.

"And now I find myself wanting to be a better person, every day. For you." he continued.

"Why?" she asked quiet sill not opening her eyes.

Draco took a deep breath.

"Because I love you, Hermione." Draco answered simply.

"I love you too, Draco." Hermione smiled.

Draco smiled to himself. He knew she didn't realise he might have meant it in a slightly differed way than she did. He leaned forward and kissed Hermione on her forehead.

"Good night, Hermione." Draco whispered and Hermione gave a content sigh as answer.

 _No matter_ , Draco thought to himself as he closed the door to Hermione's room behind him as he left, _eventually I'll make sure she know_.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Expecto Patronum

Naturally rumours did still travel as fast as they did when Draco attended Hogwarts. It wasn't long before the whole school knew about Weaslett's accusation during class and that she'd received detention for it. Most of the students however seemed to be to scared to mention it but Draco noticed the curious stares he received every time he was close to Hermione. It didn't really bother him, as he thought it would, and he concluded fear might not be his teaching style, but being intimidating certainty was. The news of Weaslett's detention had of course also reached the staff. At first Draco was a little concerned his colleagues wouldn't approve of his unorthodox disciplinary reprimand (detention usually involved hard labour) but when Professor McGonagall, or Minerva as she insisted Draco called her now since he was a staff member, came up to him after one on his classes and praised him for handling the situation so well he felt his confidence grew.

It was now February and Draco had now been teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts for a month and he was sitting in the common room grading the fourth year's papers on Blast-Ended Skrewt. Hermione sat beside him in the common room with her nose in an old dull-looking book. After having read through what felt like the fifteenth paper with the exact same conclusion he leaned back into the backrest of the sofa and ran his finger through his hair in frustration.

"They're all so dull. Exactly the same, the lot of them!" he complained.

"Didn't you put an anti-cheating spell on the assignment before handing it out?" Hermione asked, not looking from her book.

"Of course I did. But they're not copying of each other; they're copying of me! This is exactly what I said in class. There is not a single paper with an original thought." Draco said in annoyance.

"Well, you must have had some pretty good ideas then." Hermione concluded.

"Of course, all my ideas are good. But that's not the point. I think they're afraid of me." Draco said in a tired voice.

"What makes you think that?" Hermione wondered and looked up from her book.

"I think they're scared I won't give them a good grade unless I agree with their reasoning." Draco simply answered.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Hermione asked.

"I'll fail the whole class. Make them write a new paper, and if I read one paper without an original thought I'll fail them all again." Draco muttered.

"Well, I don't think you can fail all of them. But other than that I think it's a good idea." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I love it when you're co-teaching with me." Draco said.

"I wouldn't say I'm co-teaching. But I like it that you want my opinion and I'm glad to help whenever I can." Hermione smiled.

"Speaking of which, I actually do need your help for my seventh years." Draco said and looked at Hermione.

"I'm listening." she said curiously.

"In a couple of week I'm teaching them the Patronus charm. I know it's advanced but I'd like to give it a go. Only problem is; I've never been able to perform one myself." Draco said, slightly ashamed. "I thought, maybe you could teach me how to do it."

"Draco, I don't know if I could teach you. I'm not that good at it myself." Hermione said, looking a little self-conscious.

"Would you try to teach me?" Draco pleaded.

"I can teach you all about the theory, but the practical I think you should ask someone else." Hermione said.

"Thank you for your offer, but I can read a book myself." Draco teased. "Who do you reckon I'd ask then?"

"Well, Harry thought me and a couple of others our fifth year. He's a very good teacher." Hermione said.

"I suppose I could ask Potter." Draco said thoughtfully. Hermione looked a little surprised, no doubt she expected Draco to object.

"I think he'd like that." Hermione said.

"What's your Patronus anyway?" Draco asked curiously.

"An otter." Hermione answered.

"Really, how come?" Draco asked.

"Well, a Patronus is a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom the conjurer share the deepest affinity. Harry's Patronus is a stag, you know, like his father's Animagus form." Hermione said.

"Really? I had no idea." Draco said. This Patronus stuff was more interesting than he'd first thought. "I'll bet mine will be a snake."

"Well, you may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it." Hermione answered matter-of-factly.

"Well then, I suppose I should send Potter an owl. Not time to waist figuring out what my Patronus is." Draco said and stood up and made his way to the portrait.

"Before you leave, there was something I'd want to ask you." Hermione said, suddenly looking a bit tense.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Draco asked.

"Well, I know the weekend after the next is a Hogsmead weekend. I was just wondering if you'd like to go there with me? I figure we could visit the Three Broomsticks and have a bite. Just the two of us." Draco noticed that she blushed slightly when she spoke, something he found strange since there was nothing unusual about him and Hermione dining together, just the two of them.

"Sure, that'd be great. It's a date." Draco said before he climbed out the portrait hole. It wasn't until he reached the Owlery he realised that the weekend after the next was Valentine's Day. He suddenly regretted saying ' _it's a date_ '. But the more he thought about it the more he got the feeling Hermione had in fact just asked him out on a date. Not their usual casual-hanging-out-type-of-date, but a date-date. What did he do now? Should he buy her flowers? No, he didn't think Hermione was that hooked on flowers. Chocolate was more her thing. Should he buy her chocolate, then? Would that be too much? Or was that exactly what Hermione expected him to do? What should he wear? Should he dress up? What would she wear? Draco hoped she'd be wearing the green a-line dress she'd worn at Potter's engagement party. But he figured she wouldn't since that would be highly overdressing for the Tree Broomsticks. The questions swarmed in his head, making him feel slightly nauseated. He decided to not think too much into it.

Potter replied quickly saying he'd be more than happy teaching Draco the Patronus Charm. Luckily Potter's weekends were free and that's how Draco found himself with Potter in the Room of Requirement the following weekend. On Saturday they'd practised conjuring the charm but all Draco had managed to conjure was a silver mist. No matter how hard he tried he wasn't able to produce a full, corporeal Patronus.

"You're not concentrating hard enough!" Potter accused Draco when they'd rendezvoused the next day and Draco had yet again let out a wisp of silver from the tip of his wand.

"I am, though!" Draco retorted, slightly annoyed.

"Then you're not thinking of a happy enough memory!" Potter said.

"How happy does it have to be?" Draco answered.

"Well, what are you thinking about?" Potter asked.

"How I won the Quidditch cup last year from you." Draco smirked.

"Classy, although that's not nearly happy enough. You have to think about something that actually means something to you, means something for real." Potter said.

"Alright, let me try again." Draco said, searching his memory of some meaningful happy memory. The first thing that popped into his mind was Hermione. Just Hermione. He concentrated hard on how she made him feel, on the warm sensation he always got in his chest when he smelled her vanilla scented perfume, on how his knees got all weak when she smiled at him, on how he though her laughter sounded like music, on how complete he felt when she hugged him or put her head on his shoulder.

" _Expecto Patronum._ " he shouted again and waved his wand. This time, instead of a wisp of silver escaping his wand, a small animal sprung from the tip of Draco's wand and danced around the room. To Draco's, and apparently Potter's, surprise the Patronus was an otter. Draco was so taken a-back by this he couldn't hold his concentration any longer and the otter disappeared.

"Wow, that was… really good, Malfoy. Good job." Potter said perplexed.

"I didn't expect that." Draco mumbled.

"Neither did I." Potter confessed. "Do you know who else happens to have a Patronus in the shape of an otter?" Draco suspected Potter knew that he knew.

"Hermione." Draco said with an empty voice.

"What memory did you chose this time?" Potter asked.

"I was thinking about her." Draco confessed, slightly embraced.

"I figured." Potter said.

"You can't tell her about this!" Draco said in a high pitch voice, feeling himself slightly panicking.

"Why?" Potter asked. Draco didn't know what to answer; he just knew that he'd feel extremely vulnerable if Hermione found out.

"Listen, mate." Potter begun and sat down on a bench that had just appeared in the room. "I've seen this before." Potter continued.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked and sat down on the bench next to Potter.

"I've seen a Patronus taking on the same form as someone else's. You know who?" Potter asked. Draco shook his head.

"Snape's Patronus took on the same form as my mother's; a doe. Do you know why?" Potter asked, his voice calm and friendly.

"No." Draco muttered.

"Because he loved her. Even after she'd been gone for sixteen years his Patronus was still a doe. I think you know why your Patronus is an otter, don't you?" Potter asked and smiled.

"I guess you do too." Draco muttered, not entirely comfortable having this conversation with Potter.

"I won't tell her. But I really think you should." Potter said.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Draco asked rhetorically.

"Because it's a good idea." Potter said as he raised an eyebrow.

"What if she turns me down?" Draco asked.

"She won't." Potter answered.

"How do you know?" Draco asked and looked up at Potter.

"Isn't it obvious?" Potter raised an eyebrow at Draco. "She's in love with you. You'd have to be blind not to notice!"

"Really?" Draco asked, a little more enthusiastically than he'd intended.

"Yes, you daft cow! Honestly, how thick are you Malfoy?" Potter laughed. "Just talk to her, tell her how you feel. What's the worst thing that can happen?"

"That she rips my heart out and smashes it all over the floor." Draco suggested.

"She won't, though. I promise." Potter said reassuringly.

"How can you be so sure?" Draco asked.

"There was a time I would have hexed you for being in love with one of my best friends, Malfoy. But you know; you're not the same git I met at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions almost 10 years ago. Every day you make an effort to be a better person, and Hermione sees that. I've known Hermione a long time, but I've never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you." Potter said honest.

"Really, not anyone?" Draco smirked.

"No, not _anyone_."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Valentine's Day at the Shrieking Shack

"You've been so quiet all night, is something wrong?" Hermione asked Draco as they walked along the streets of Hogsmead in the dark night of the 14th of February. It was almost midnight and a week had passed since Draco learned to conjure a corporeal Patronus, but he still hadn't told Hermione about it. Draco had practised every night in his room in the hopes of his Patronus would change form. It didn't. Every night a small otter escaped the tip of his wand and danced around his room. Draco had to admit; it did look kind of alluring. But he'd still favoured a snake, though. The more he thought about Potter's explanation for the form of his Patronus, the more he realised it was true. Draco had decided that tonight would be the night he told Hermione about what he truly felt for her, but he hadn't yet mustered up the nerve to tell her. He'd had several chances during dinner as Hermione continued asking him what was on his mind. Every time head lied telling her he was just tired. He knew she didn't believe him.

"No, there's noting wrong. I just… There is just a lot on my mind." Draco answered and gave Hermione a weak smile. They continued walking through Hogsmead aimlessly in silence.

"Well, there's something on my mind too, actually." Hermione said after a while as they came up on the hill next to the Shrieking Shack.

Draco merely nodded to let Hermione know he'd heard her.

"Well, it's been bothering me for quite some time now but I haven't figure out how to put it into words. I still haven't but I'm just going to say it." Hermione said fumbling.

Draco looked at her, both curious and a bit frighten of what she was going to say.

"I feel like something has changed between us. I don't know what it is but I feel like you're hiding something from me." Hermione said after a moment. She looked at Draco and he saw a hint of hurt in her eyes. She'd stopped walking. Draco didn't know quite what to say so he remained quiet, looking over at the Shrieking Shack.

"I guess I'm just so used to us talking about everything I figured you would tell me if I did something to upset you. Because that's how I feel; almost like you're avoiding me." she continued and looked down at her feet.

"Hermione, I haven't been avoiding you. Maybe I've a bit distant lately, but that's because I've been trying to figure out something. I never meant to make you feel bad in the process." Draco said, a hint of pleading in his voice.

"What have you been trying to figure out? Maybe I can help you sort through your thoughts. You use to always let me help your reasoning." Hermione said and looked up at Draco.

"I know. But this time you were the only one I couldn't tell." Draco answered.

"Enough already! Tell me!" Hermione said, now with a sharp tone in her voice.

"It isn't easy for me to tell you this! You can't push me." said Draco frustrated.

"Well either you're ready or not but I think I have the right to know what's going on. You are acting stranger by the minute and I can't help but feel it's because of me." Hermione demanded.

"Well that's exactly why I can't tell you. It IS you!" Draco shouted.

"Have I done something to upset you? Draco, you have to tell me what I did. I can't keep guessing." Hermione shouted back.

Draco took a deep breath and pulled out his wand. Hermione swallowed hard. Draco couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by her reaction; did Hermione really think he would use it on her?

" _Expecto Patronum!_ " Draco shouted and out from the tip of his wand sprung the otter. Hermione gasped looking at the otter in astonishment. The silver glow from the Patronus reflected beautifully in the glistering snow lighting up their surrounding in the February night.

"Draco…" Hermione said trembling. Draco knew she realised the meaning of his Patronus taking on the same form as hers. The instant she found out what his Patronus was she would know; that's why he hadn't told her. Hermione seemed to be at a loss for words but Draco saw a wide range of emotion playing out in her eyes. Draco took a step closer to Hermione.

" _Hell, this is it. If she blows me off then so be it_." Draco thought and slowly leaned in towards Hermione's lips. He stopped when he was just about to touch her lips with his. He could feel her short breath on his lips for a moment, but he wanted her to come to him. He waited for what seemed like forever when in reality it was just a matter of a split second before she pressed her lips against his. He felt an electric jolt through his whole body and he deepened the kiss. He heard a moan in the back of her throat and Hermione put her hands on the back of his head, pulling him closer. Draco put his arms around her waist and held her tight and she pushed her body closer to his. After a long moment he slowly broke the kiss.

"Hermione, I'm so deeply, over the hill, in love with you that I don't know what to do with myself." he said, a little out of breath.

Hermione looked deep into his eyes and placed a light kiss on his lips.

"What took you so long in figuring it out?" she asked and Draco thought he saw a hint of a smirk in the corner of her lip.

"I guess I've known for longer than I care to admit. Just wasn't sure you would return my feelings, but then Potter said…" Draco begun but Hermione cut him off.

" _You_ talked to _Harry_ about being in love with me before you ever so much as mentioned it to me?" she asked in disbelief.

"Well, obviously he saw that my Patronus was an otter and I guess he put one or two things together." Draco shrugged.

"And then what? He gave you relationship advice?" Hermione asked and raised a curious eyebrow.

"He called me thick for not realising you would in fact return me feelings. Then told me to suck it up and talk to you. It was an uncomfortable conversation, really." Draco answered honestly.

"Well, he was right though." Hermione smiled and kissed Draco again.

"Good thing you listened to him." she said when she parted her lips from his.

"Maybe I should do that more often. He isn't as dumb as he looks." Draco smirked.

Hermione hit him playfully on the shoulder.

"Let's get back to the castle. I'm freezing." she said and grabbed Draco's hand as they started walking towards the castle.

The trip back to their common room was uneventful, apart from when they came across Peeves at the bust of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor leading to their dorm. Peeves was cackling ominously as he made continuous attempts on dropping Paracelsus on their heads.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A couple of love birds sneaking back in to the castle!" Peeves cackled as Draco very protectively escorted Hermione past Peeves.

"We are not sneaking since we are not students." Hermione said angrily to Peeves.

"Might not be sneaking for curfew, but I certainly know sneaking when I see it! Looks to me like you wished you wished not to be seen." Peeves hooted cheerfully.

"Peeves, if you don't leave at once I'll call the Bloody Baron on you! He'd love to do me a favour, you know." Draco threatened.

Peeves answered by sticking his tough out at Draco and then bounced away down the corridor making fart noises with his mouth.

"He is such a menace!" Hermione said as Peeves disappeared. "But why would the Bloody Baron love to do you a favour?"

"I guess he wouldn't, but Peeves doesn't know that." Draco shrugged and opened the portrait hole.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – Flashbacks and Realisations

Several weeks had now passed since the night by the Shrieking Shack. This morning, just like every other morning since then, Draco awakened with his head buried in Hermione's brown hair with his arms in a firm grip around her waist and her back pressed hard against his front. He took a deep breath with his nose and the smell of vanilla perfume filled his nostrils. It was the best smell in the world and it made him feel so relaxed and at peace. Everything about the woman he held in his arms made him feel happy. Even weird and uncomfortable things such as the way she would nag him for leaving the toilet seat up and suggesting he should sit down while peeing, as it was more healthy for his prostate, made him happy. In a weird way of course and he told her she was way out of line, but he still found it somewhat endearing that she cared about his prostate. She really was a bossy witch and he'd never thought he would stand living with such a hard-headed partner. But he did, and famously so. Draco even got along better than expected with Crookshanks. Although, Draco was not thrilled to have Crookshanks around that time he was woken up by Crookshanks in the middle of the night as the cat had caught a lingering Cornish Pixie and dumped on Draco, expected to be celebrated.

Draco moved his arms away from Hermione's waist, careful not to wake her up. He then smoothly slid out of bed, pulled on a t-shirt and went down to the common room. It was a grey morning in Mars and the rain clattered furiously at the window. Draco took a seat in the window. As he sat in the window absentmindedly looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts he let his mind wonder freely. His mind wondered to a night in Mars a year earlier when he sat in the very same window…

 _Draco took a drag from his smoke and shook some of the ash off out side the dark window while contemplating his life. Graduation neared and soon he would have to make a decision what to do with himself. He just hoped he'd make the right decision. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice out side the portrait hole._

" _Just talk to me! Don't just run from me." It was Weasley's voice and Draco could hear he was upset._

" _You can't question my feelings, Ron. Nothing gives you that right." Hermione's voice came through the portrait, also upset._

 _Draco sighed in irritation; he hated to hear people argue. Brought back lots of childhood memories._

" _I'm just saying maybe you're overreacting." said Weasley with a hint of desperation in his voice._

" _No, I'm not. I'm very upset with you and I'd like you to leave me alone." said Hermione, her voice choking a bit. The portrait opened and Hermione climbed through._

" _Hermione…" Draco heard Weasley pleading before the portrait shut in his face._

 _From his seat in the window Draco saw Hermione cover her face with her hand. She hadn't noticed him._

" _What did he do this time? Give you a bogy-flavoured Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean?" Draco asked with a smirk._

 _Hermione twitched, not prepared to have company, but she didn't answer. As Draco watched Hermione's silhouette in the dark common room he noticed that she was crying. Her shoulders quickly heaved up and down and her face was still covered by her hands. She didn't make any noise, but she was definitely crying. Draco felt a sting of guilt and wished he hadn't been so rude._

" _Oi, Granger." he said, his voice soft. "I'm sorry, I didn't…" he didn't know how to finish._

 _Hermione removed her hands from her face and the light from the moon revealed her wet cheeks._

" _Don't worry about it." she sniffed._

" _Hey, come here." Draco said with the softest voice he could manage and tossed the cigarette out from the window._

 _Hermione seemed a little reluctant at first but walked over and sat down beside him in the window. Draco raised a hand and wiped the tears from her face._

" _What ever Weasley said or did, he was wrong." Draco whispered and removed a stray lock of hair from her face._

" _How can you say that? You don't even know what happened." Hermione asked in a small voice._

" _Don't have to. But I do know that you're always right." he smirked._

 _Hermione gave him a small smile and then put her head on his shoulder for comfort. Draco put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her._

" _For years it used to be Ron comforting me after you'd been a knob head. Who could have guessed it would be the other way around?" Hermione said._

" _Well, a lot has happened that made me realise it was time to stop being a knob head." Draco shrugged._

" _Just too bad it took so long." Hermione teased._

" _That was unfortunate, I agree. For what ever it's worth; I really am sorry Hermione. I'm sorry for everything." Draco said. That was the first time he'd ever called her by her first name. It was also the first time he'd apologised to her for years of torment. He knew that apology wouldn't even come close to make up for all those years of being an ass, but it was a start._

A closing door made Draco return to the present. Hermione came down from the stairs, when she saw Draco sitting in the window she walked down and beside him.

"It's been a while since I sat here." Draco mumbled and kissed Hermione's hair as she took a seat next to him.

"You always liked sitting in the window. I never understood why. I only sat here once." she said.

"I was just thinking about that night." Draco said a little distracted.

"You comforted me after I had a row with Ron." Hermione said and looked out the window.

Draco just nodded.

"It wasn't always bad, you know." Hermione said. When Draco only raised an eyebrow as response she continued; "When two people break up they often seem to forget that at one point they were happy. It's like they only remember the bad stuff and let the hate take over. I almost feel expected to hate Ron."

"Of course you're not." Draco said flatly.

"I did love him, you know." Hermione said. "Still do, just not the same way. He was my best friend for so many years. I miss him." she trailed off and looked out the window again.

"I was there, Hermione. I know he was your first love, the love of your life even. I understand that you miss him." Draco said and started stroking her hair absentmindedly. He was surprised by the lack of jealousy he felt as Hermione spoke so dearly of her ex-boyfriend. The war and the years had really changed him, made him more mature. There wasn't room in life for petty grudges and teenage drama any more. He really had grown up and Draco felt relieved as he realised this.

"I wish I could talk to him." Hermione sighed after a moment.

"I think you should. Better not push it, though. You did break the poor lads heart. Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't in the mood to talk to you just yet." Draco smirked.

"Do you think I should tell him about us?" Hermione asked and bit her bottom lip.

"I've got a feeling you've already decided you should. And besides; better he'd hear it from you than some one else, say Peeves." answered Draco.

"Why would he hear it from Peeves?" Hermione asked confused.

"All I meant was he could hear it from someone worse then you. If you're the one telling him, at least you're doing it to his face and not behind his back. I reckon he will be mad for you throwing it in his face, but I'll bet once he calms down he'll thank you for telling him." Draco explained.

"I guess you're right. It's not going to comfortable though." Hermione grimaced.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 – Breaking the News and Planning for the Future

"I'm meeting Ron at the Three Broomsticks today." Hermione said. When she saw Draco's facial expression she continued, "Hang on, where are you meeting your parents?"

"Ehr, the Three Broomsticks." Draco confessed.

"This is bad! Draco one of us has to change. You can't meet your parents there while I talk to Ron!" Hermione stressed.

"Of course we can. We're basically telling them the same thing and they will all be disappointed. We'll just have them sit down next to each other and get it all over with. I'll bet the insults will be similar too. They can seek consolation in one and other. It will be sweet, really." Draco said. Now that he thought about it the idea didn't seem so bad. Hermione on the other hand did seem to think it was a terrible one.

"Why are you not taking this seriously?" Hermione asked critically.

"Of course I take this seriously, Hermione. But neither of us are going to have comfortable conversations today; may as well laugh about it." Draco shrugged.

An hour later the bell on top of the tavern door mad a noise, announcing the arrival of Draco's parents. Draco sipped on his Butterbeer and watched them make their way over to his table. Since Draco had refused to reschedule locations with his parents Hermione had chosen to change hers.

"My sweet boy!" Narcissa smiled and hugged her son.

"Hello, mother." Draco greeted with a smile.

"Son." Lucius said and nodded.

"Father." Draco answered, equally stiff as his father.

"How is life, dear? It looks like teaching really suits you." Narcissa smiled.

"Life is good. Teaching has been a challenge, but a really educational one." Draco answered.

"I can only imagine you've learned just as much as your students!" Narcissa beamed.

"Don't be silly, Cissy. Draco already knew every single thing in the tedious curriculum this joke of a school presents." Lucius sneered and waved to the bartender Madam Rosmerta who brought them two more Butterbeers.

"Of course, I meant that you must have learned a lot from this new experience." Narcissa clarified shooting her husband a warning glare.

"I have. Just last month a learned how to conjure a full corporal Patronus." said Draco proudly.

"That's wonderful! It's such advanced magic. Did Hermione help you?" Narcissa smiled a sly smile. Lucius, on the other hand, made a snarling sound and rolled his eyes.

"She did, in a way." Draco confessed. "But Potter was the one who actually taught me."

"Associating with bloody Potter, now are we?" Lucius said spitefully.

"Seeing as he has been able to perform the spell since he was 13 years old I figured it was a good idea to ask him for help. A spell neither Voldemort nor you were ever able to perform, might I add." Draco said drawling.

"How dare you speak what way to your own father?" Lucius hissed and glared at his son.

"Have I upset you, father?" Draco asked flatly.

"You're right I'm upset with you, you ungrateful little bugger! Associating with Potter and insulting both your father and the Dark Lord; I'd never thought my own son would ever be that disrespectful." his father spat.

"Would you say this is most upset you could ever be?" Draco asked his father calmly.

"I could not imagine how you could make it much worse, boy." Lucius hissed between gritted teeth.

"Then you won't be upset when I tell you that I'm in love with Hermione Granger and that we are involved in a romantic relationship?" Draco continued unconcerned with the small twitches in the corner of his father's mouth, as he understood what his son just told him.

"You. Will. Do. No. Such. Thing!" Lucius hissed.

"I already am. We been seeing each other for a month." Draco shrugged.

"Being involved with a mudblood is beneath a wizard of your stature!" said Lucius in a raised voice causing the guests in the tavern to turn their heads and look at Lucius.

"Don't call my girlfriend a mudblood, _that's_ disrespectful." Draco snapped.

"Lucius, for Merlin's sake; lower your voice! You're making a scene." said Narcissa in a sharp tone.

"It's girlfriend now, is it? What do you expect will happen down the line? Will you marry her and waste all the family fortune on stupid meaningless projects such as S.P.E.W?" Lucius' face had taken on a purple shade as he hysterically yelled at his son.

"I'm actually impressed that you know about S.P.E.W. But yes, that's just exactly what I might do." Draco said defiant.

"Mark my words, boy; you will never inherit as much as a single knut if you don't end this preposterous so-called relationship with the mudblood." Lucius hissed before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the Three Broomsticks.

"Father can be so daft sometime." Draco said as Lucius slammed the door on his way out.

"Well, he can't help it. He's just so used to it." Narcissa sighed. "Never mind him, he'll come around. But let me just say, Draco, how happy I am for you and Hermione." Narcissa beamed.

"Thanks, mother. I'm actually really happy too." Draco smiled.

When Draco got back to the common room he found Hermione spread out on the sofa, facing down.

"Looks like your talk went as well as mine did." Draco said and sat down by her feet.

Draco heard a muffled sound coming from the cushion.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." he smirked.

"You' were right. He didn't take it well." Hermione said as she sat up.

"He'll come around. Or else he really is more stupid than I first thought." Draco said and shrugged.

"How did it go with your parents?" Hermione asked.

"Well, turns out you were right on that one. You told me right before Christmas they would deprive me of my heritage if I brought you home." Draco said and grimaced.

"Was it that bad?" Hermione frowned.

"Well, to summarise father resorted to some very rude name-calling, insulted my status, called me a bad son. Naturally, I threatened to marry you and father promised not to give me as mush as a knut before storming out of the Three Broomsticks. Mother on the other hand found it to be the best news she heard in years. She sends her love, by the way." Draco said.

"This is such a mess, Draco! My best friend isn't speaking to me and you just lost your heritage." Hermione sighed.

"First of all; I thought I was your best friend." Draco said in, what was meant to be, an accusingly manner that did not fool Hermione. "Second of all; who cares about a stupid heritage? I don't need their money. I'll have you; my rich, powerful and successful wife to support me while I pursuit my dream of being a house-husband." Draco finished.

"If you think for a second I'll just let you sit around at home while I work full time you have another thing coming." Hermione said sternly.

"Of course I won't just sit around all day. I might play some Quidditch from time to time." Draco said reassuringly.

Hermione gave him a harsh look that told him playing Quidditch also counted as doing nothing.

"But that's all in the future. Come now, lets go to bed. If you let me eat popcorn in bed I promise I won't spill all over the place." Draco said and hugged Hermione.

"You mean like you did last time?" Hermione said and gave Draco a stern look.

"I told you! That was Crookshanks!" Draco exclaimed.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Meet the Parents

As they walked closer to the door Draco felt his heart was beating faster. Hermione took his hand in reassurance. Even though it was colder than it usually was in the month of April Draco felt sweats breaking out on his forehead. Eventually they reached the door and Hermione rang the doorbell, announcing their arrival to the Grangers. Draco immediately regretted his decision in meeting Hermione's parents. What had he been thinking? No good could possibly come from this. He knew Hermione's parents were well aware of how he'd treated their daughter and even though she had forgiven him by now he wasn't so sure they had. He couldn't blame them. If he ever met the person who treated his (hypothetical) daughter the way he'd treated Hermione he reckoned he would do something unforgivable to them.

"You're going to be fine." Hermione said smiling at Draco just as her mother opened the door.

"Hermione! Sweetheart!" Mrs Granger sang as she hugged her daughter tight. "I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too, mom." Hermione said. "Mom, I would like you to meet my boyfriend; Draco Malfoy." she said as she broke away from the hug.

"Please, call me Draco. Pleasure to meet you Mrs Granger." Draco said and smiled sheepishly while shaking Mrs Granger's hand.

"Likewise, Draco." Mrs Granger answered courteously but Draco noticed something tense in her tone.

Mr Granger appeared in the doorway behind his wife.

"Sweetheart! Good to see you again!" Mr Granger said and hugged Hermione.

"Hi, dad." Hermione replied. "Dad, this is Draco Malfoy." Hermione continued and smiled at Draco.

"Finally I get to meet this Draco Malfoy I've heard so much about." Mr Granger said and shook Draco's hand. Draco noticed something quite resembling threat in Mr Granger's tone.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir." Draco said.

"Dad, you promised you would behave." Hermione warned her father as they made their way inside the house.

"I know, I know. And I will. I just want to make sure Draco Malfoy knows that if he ever hurts my daughter again, in any way, it doesn't matter if he has a wand or not; I'll make sure he regrets it." Mr Granger said and glared at Draco.

"You can just call me Draco, sir." Draco said coolly.

"Dad! I told you! You have no business meddling in our past, neither present nor future. That's between me and Draco and if I say we've sorted it out than that's the way it is and you'll just have to be happy about it!" Hermione snapped at her father.

Draco had heard Hermione snap at people before, usually him, but to hear her take this tone, against her father, and because of him, well, it made him feel warm.

"Alright, sweetheart. I'll behave." Mr Granger said. After that dinner with the Grangers' went on quite nicely. Mrs Granger tried telling Draco the concept of being a dentist; Draco smiled politely and nodded even though he only understood half of what she was telling him. It took Mr Granger a bit longer to warm up to him but when Draco finally had managed to explain the concept of a Patronus and how he'd learned to conjure it Draco saw that Mr Granger was starting to warm up to him.

"That's a really nice story." Mrs Granger said when Draco had finished his story about his Patronus. "So, what was your Patronus then?" she asked.

"An otter, actually." said Draco, surprised at how well these Muggles understood the magical world. Although, he shouldn't be surprised since their daughter was _Hermione_. He figured she had to get her brains from somewhere.

"Isn't that your Patronus as well, dear?" Mr Granger asked his daughter.

"As a matter of fact; it is, dad." Hermione answered, smiling at Draco.

"Is that common? That two people have the same Patronus?" Mrs Granger asked curiously.

"Well, not really, no." Hermione answered a little uncertain of how much Draco wanted her to tell her parents.

"That's a funny coincidence then." Mrs granger said cheerfully.

"It's not a coincidence at all; my Patronus is an otter simply because Hermione is the most important person on this earth to me." Draco said honest. "If Hermione's Patronus would have been a hedgehog or a butterfly, then so would mine."

Mr and Mrs Granger looked a little awed by this new piece of information.

"Well, magic can certainly be very curious." Mrs Granger finally said and smiled at Draco.

After that the atmosphere remained pleasant for the entire evening. When it was time for Draco and Hermione to departure back to Hogwarts Draco was on first name basis with both the Grangers and had been invited back to dinner once the term ended.

"That actually went better than I expected." Draco stated as he laid down on the sofa in front of the fire back in their common room.

"I told you that you would be fine." Hermione said and lifted his feet up and sat down next to him before placing them on her lap.

"I was just thinking I could never be that nice to someone who was git to our daughter." Draco said thoughtfully.

"I beg your pardon?" Hermione squealed in a high pitch voice.

"Never mind." said Draco quickly, realising his mistake.

"You said _our_ daughter." Hermione pressed on.

"Did I?" Draco asked dumbstruck.

"Is that something you think about? Us having children?" Hermione asked looking seriously at Draco.

"Of course not." Draco lied. "Because that would be inappropriate. And obviously too soon."

Hermione watched Draco carefully for a moment.

"Why you ever bothered to learn Occlumency is beyond me; you really are a terrible lair, you know that right?" Hermione said and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'll have you know I'm an excellent lair." said Draco, a little offended. "Perhaps I'm just not that comfortable lying to you."

"Of course you're not." Hermione smiled. "For what it's worth; I think about it too."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Quizzing and Quidditch

The sun was shining through the tall windows of the classroom making it hot like in a greenhouse; the sunbeams highlighted every grain of dust flying around in the room. It was now May and Draco was sitting at the back of his classroom just as his third year students finished a presentation of Salamanders and the condition of scale rot.

"Excellent performances, you lot." Draco praised his class as the last presenting student took her seat. He made his way to the front of the classroom. He really was impressed with all of his classes, as they had learned a lot during the time he'd been teaching. Even though he noted his students clearly had been a bit scared of him at the start at the term they were now much more comfortable with him and seemed to have no problem venturing theories of their own.

"As you know finals are coming up; just a quick reminder, you will do wise to emphasis you reviews on Boggarts and how to expel them, Hinkypunks, Vampires, Werewolves, the freezing spell and of course the Orbis jinx. Just so you know; I will take it as a personal insult if you do not pass your exam. Class dismissed." Draco ended as the bell rang putting an end to the class. When the students had cleared out Draco made his was to the library. This had been his last class of the day and he was now longing to see Hermione; who no doubt would be in the library preparing for an interview with _the_ _Daily Prophet_ on her book that was soon being published. As he entered the library he found Hermione hidden behind an enormous pile of books.

"Good day, Ms Granger. Would you care to join me for a walk around the lake before dinner?" Draco greeted, in the usual over courteous manner they usually addressed one another in when out in public, as he sat down beside Hermione and her pile of books.

Hermione didn't seem to notice Draco had joined her.

"Hermione?" Draco asked, still no response.

He pulled away the book from her and closed it.

"Hey!" Hermione complained. "What did you do that for?"

"I was talking to you." Draco said.

"Sorry, I was just so caught up in reading I didn't realise you here." Hermione said.

"You've been spending the last week reviewing what I can only assume is the whole library." Draco smirked.

"I know I have been a bit distant lately. I'm just so nervous for the interview. I want to make sure I've got all the facts straight." Hermione said and chewed her bottom lip.

"I'm sure you already do. But listen, I wanted to ask your opinion on something." Draco said.

"Sure what is it?" Hermione asked absentmindedly and picked up another book.

"Since finals are nearing but I've still got a few classes left before but I don't have anything new to teach them; I was thinking of asking a guest lecturer to speak to the class. Some one inspiring; and I was thinking on asking you, Potter and Weasley." Draco said and watched Hermione.

"That sounds interesting." Hermione said absentmindedly.

"You know, a boost-moral-for-the-finals-sort of thing." Draco continued.

"Sure. Let me know how it works out." Hermione continued, not taking her eyes of the book in front of her.

"Alright, you are clearly too distracted to listen and I won't get a sensible response from you until you get this out of your system." Draco said and grabbed the book from Hermione. "Hermione, I'm going to ask you something that will get you extremely turned on; but you have to remember that we're at work and out in public so you can't get all excited and jump me here in the library. Do you want me to quiz you?" he smirked.

"YES!" Hermione exclaimed happily, evidently too excited to be insulted.

After Draco had quizzed Hermione they went for a walk around the lake. It was such a warm evening neither of them wanted to go back inside the castle so Draco conjured two sandwiches from the kitchen and them ate them under the tree by the lake. On their way back to the castle they passed the Quidditch pitch and saw the Gryffindor team practising and they decided to watch for a moment.

"Every one, take five." They heard Weaslett, who was now team captain, shout to her team as they came closer. Weaslett landed beside them and dismounted her broom.

"Did you just stop mid-practise because we walked on to the pitch?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"Of course I did, _professor_." Weaslett grinned. "We can't have Slytherin spies on the field this close to the final!"

"I trust my old House is perfectly capable of defending the title as school champions with out the knowledge of you petty routines." Draco responded drawling. Ever since Weaslett's detention in January Draco and her had gotten along very well and were now often engaging in friendly banter.

"Enough you two, I can't stand listening to this again." Hermione complained.

"Fair enough then. Can I speak to you two as my friends and not as my professor and the woman-who-hangs-out-in-the-library-even-though-she's-not-a-student-anymore for a moment?" Weaslett smiled.

"Sure." Draco said and Hermione looked a little offended.

"You know how George has been acting strange ever since last fall? At Christmas he wouldn't tell Malfoy or us why he stopped coming around the Leaky Cauldron and so on?" Weaslett said excited.

"What about it?" Draco asked curious.

"Now I finally know why he was acting dodgy! He is seeing Angelina Johnson and apparently she's now pregnant!" Weaslett said fast, like she couldn't wait to get the words out of her mouth.

"That's great!" Hermione exclaimed happily.

"Why couldn't he just tell us?" Draco asked.

"The relationship was very new and I figure they were just more comfortable with sorting it out amongst them selves before starting telling every one. Kind of like you two." Weaslett shrugged. "Any way, now there is a baby shower to plan! I'm going to be an aunt!" she cried happily.

"Congratulations, Ginny!" Hermione smiled.

"Is the shower for you or Angelina?" Draco asked with his right eyebrow raised.

"Angelina, of course. But I'm still allowed to be happy that I'm going to be an aunt!" Weaslett cried again. "I'm thinking we should have it in July, or else we might miss it. And it will be a good thing to have it after Harry's and my wedding. So, you two better keep July open until further notice." Weaslett said and mounted her broom again before she flew back to join her team.

After having watched the Gryffindor team for a few minutes they made their way back to the castle.

"Every one seems so grown up. Harry and Ginny getting married, George and Angelina having a baby. It seems it was only yesterday I received my letter from Hogwarts." Hermione said when they were back in their common room.

"You figure it's time for us to start as well?" Draco asked.

"Not yet, there is still so much I want to do before I have kids. Like travel and have a career." Hermione said serious.

"Well, I don't mind practising for a few years." Draco smirked and kissed Hermione's neck.

"Well, we're not in the library any more. Why don't you quiz me?" Hermione smirked right back at him.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 – Epilogue

Eight years later.

This morning, just like every other morning for the past eight years, Draco awakened with his head buried in Hermione's brown hair with his arms in a firm grip around her and her back pressed hard against his front. He took a deep breath with his nose and the smell of vanilla perfume filled his nostrils. It was still the best smell in the world and it made him feel so relaxed and at peace every time he smelled it. He had just, very carefully not to wake her, moved his arm away from her very pregnant belly when she stretched and yawned.

"Good morning, Mrs Malfoy." Draco smiled and kissed his wife.

"Urgh, I wish you would stop calling me that. It makes me sound like I'm your mother." Hermione frowned.

"You should have kept Granger then." Draco said teased and started kissing her neck.

"I know it's been six years, but it's not too late to change my mind, you know." Hermione said and smirked. Draco loved her smirk and he took some pride in thinking he was the one who had influenced it. He was just about to tell his wife so when the door opened and a small boy with silver white hair ran into the room and jumped up on the bed.

"Mommy! Daddy! Today is my birthday!" the little boy yelled as he excitedly jumped up and down on the bed.

"That's right, love. Do you know how many years are you today?" Hermione smiled and sat up in the bed.

"I'm four years old today!" the little boy said and showed his parents four of his fingers on his right hand.

"That's right, Scorpius. And do you know what four-year-old just love?" Draco asked as he too sat up in the bed and Scorpius shook his head, eager to find out.

"Their daddies!" Draco answered and captured Scorpius in a warm hug and kissed him all over his face as Scorpius squirmed trying to wiggle loose.

"No it's not!" Scorpius shrieked between laughter.

"Of course it is! Albus is four and he loves his daddy, uncle Harry. And Rose is also four and she loves her daddy too, uncle Ron. Ask them today when they comes over for the party." Draco said a-matter-of-factly, a habit Hermione swore he'd pick up from her.

"But daddy, kissing is icky!" Scorpius complained and Draco released him.

"No it's not. Mommy and me kiss all the time. You know why people kiss?" Draco asked.

"Because they're icky?" Scorpius suggested and smirked.

"No, it's because the love each other. And love is the most powerful and beautiful form of magic in the world." Draco told his son. They day Hermione and him had found out they were expecting Draco made a promise to himself and their unborn child that he would never be the kind of father Lucius had been to him.

Scorpius looked suspiciously at his father and then turned to his mother for confirmation.

"It's true, sweetheart, there is nothing stronger than love." Hermione answered truthfully.

"Well, I still think kissing is icky!" Scorpius stated and jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

Hermione sighed and laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" Draco asked.

"I think I fall more in love with you with every passing day." she said and kissed him on the cheek.

"And you make me the happiest man alive, every single day." Draco said and kissed Hermione's huge pregnant belly before he got out of bed. Hermione too, with some difficulty due to her seven months pregnant belly, got out of bed.

"I wished we could just stay in bed all day." Hermione complained as she brushed her hair.

"I do too, alas, there is a party to be thrown." Draco said dramatically and made their bed.

"Who are coming, exactly?" Hermione asked.

"It's remarkable how your brain stops working every time you're pregnant. It's a wonder they didn't suspended you as Minister of Magic until the baby is born." Draco said and rolled his eyes when he pulled a sweater over his head.

"Hey!" Hermione said and frowned.

"You know I love you, it's just unusual for you to be this forgetful." Draco apologised. "Any way, Harry, Ginny and James and Albus are coming."

"Did I tell you Ginny also thinks they're having a girl?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yes, dear, you did. You said it three times yesterday, and five times the day before that. Ron and Daphne are coming with Rose." Draco continued.

"Who in the world though Ron would end up marrying Daphne Greengrass?" Hermione asked.

"It wasn't as unexpected as when he quit his dream job as an auror and became co-manager at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes." Draco said honest.

"Much more surprising I think. Ron always said he didn't like seeing all the grief." Hermione said as she tried to wiggle into a pair of maternity jeans that weren't as giving as one would hope, but Hermione claimed they flattered her butt and Draco didn't argue.

"And of course, our parents are coming. And be prepared, I think my father might have gone a bit over board with gifts this time." Draco said and grimaced.

"Really? Will it be worse than the time they watched Scorpius when we went to the Bermuda Triangle for a week and when we got home your father had filled the spare room with toy-brooms, a my-first-potions-kit and a miniature toy dragon that _actually_ breathed fire?" Hermione said worried.

Draco's mother hand been right all those years ago at the Three Broomsticks, Lucius had come around. But it hadn't been until their wedding day when he shed a tear during his toast when he welcomed Hermione to the family they truly knew he fully accepted their relationship, and since then hey had never doubted it once. Now both Lucius and Narcissa were spoiling their grandson to the point where Draco had to make them swear only to buy presents for birthdays and Christmas. Hence, now they always went overboard when they got the chance. Hermione's parents had been a little hesitant to meet Draco's parents at first, but when it was clear to all that Draco and Hermione were planning on spending the rest of their lives together they had finally met. The first meeting had been awkward, like expected. The second, third, fourth and fifth meeting had been as well, but the more time they spend together the less awkward it got until they actually seemed to like each other.

"Don't worry, I told my parents only to get him books this time. I'm so tired of Beedle the Bard and if I have to read Babbitty Rabbity and her Cackling Stump one more time I swear I'm going to be sick." Draco sighed as they walked down the stairs and made their way to the kitchen. They found Scorpius in the kitchen eager to begin his birthday celebration. Hermione put on a kettle of coffee and waved her wand to that breakfast started preparing itself.

"Can I have cake for breakfast?" Scorpius smirked.

Draco laughed as he saw so much of him self in his son.

"No, you will have a proper breakfast. We will have cake when the guests are here." Draco smiled and ruffled Scorpius hair.

Scorpius sighed but accepted his normal breakfast consisting of toast, marmalade and fruits.

"When are the guests coming anyway?" Hermione asked and poured coffee into Draco's mug.

"I told them open house from 2 pm. George says he, Angelina, Fred and Roxanne will come as soon as Fred's flying lesson is finished. Ginny had to review an article on the Chudly Canons before printing it and something apparently happened that required the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's attention, so she, Harry and the kids will be here at 4 the latest. I think the rest of them will drop by at 2." Draco said.

"Mommy, can you read the Wizard and the Hopping Pot to me after breakfast?" Scorpius pleaded.

"Of course, sweetheart. I would love to." Hermione smiled.

"Can we read it in your bed since it's my birthday?" he asked with sparkling eyes.

"Yes, we can." Hermione and kissed her son on the top of his head.

After breakfast Hermione and Scorpius disappeared into the master bedroom while Draco cleared away breakfast. When he was done he went upstairs to join his family. He stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame; watching his wonderful wife sitting on the bed reading a tale of Beedle the Bard to their beautiful son with the book resting on her huge belly. Draco smiled to himself. How did he ever get this lucky? He couldn't say for sure, but he would guess that it all started that night in April…


End file.
